Five-Year Pay Freeze, More Federal Job Cuts Proposed

House Republicans want to reduce federal spending for all non-security agencies back to 2008 levels for 2011 and to 2006 levels for the next nine years. Lawmakers want to make significant cuts to the federal civilian workforce and eliminate the Agency for International Development.
 

In a bill called the Spending Reduction Act of 2011 introduced Thursday, Republic lawmakers take aim at several federal employee benefits including, eliminating automatic pay increases for civilian federal workers for five years and cutting the civilian workforce by a total of 15 percent through attrition by letting agencies hire one new worker for every two that leave until the reduction target is met.

 

The Republic Study Committee introduced the bill on the heels of a resolution passed by the Rules Committee Wednesday night calling for the same decrease in spending.

 

Lawmakers estimate the reduction in spending would save $80 billion.
 
Federal employee unions came out strongly against the bill.
 

"Many agencies already are struggling with insufficient resources and staffing shortages in the face of expanding workloads and expectations on the part of the American people," said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union in a press release. "These proposals will jeopardize the ability of agencies to protect the public and do the work they have been charged with. Even if drastic reductions such as these are ultimately not enacted into law, proposals like these get in the way of vital agency recruitment and retention efforts. This is an unnecessary and unwise step backward for our nation."

 

Kelley said that a funding cut would undermine the operations of the IRS, the Food and Drug Administration, the Social Security Administration (SSA), and the Patent and Trade Office.

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