Unions, Watchdog Groups Renew Call For Capping 'Exorbitant' Contractor Salaries

A collection of federal unions and watchdogs groups wrote to the House and Senate Armed Services Committee urging support for a law capping taxpayer-funded contracting compensation costs at $230,700. That is the maximum salary earned by the highest-paid federal employees.

Contractor salaries are now capped at $763,029, per a 1998 law that sets annual compensation benchmarks.

"With budget cuts and sequestration looming, it is fiscally irresponsible to allow private contractors to charge escalating and exorbitant rates to the government," the groups' letter stated. Under the current formula, the increase in compensation costs paid to contractors has grown 53 percent faster than inflation, the groups said.

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