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Dan Adcock (703) 838-7760

National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) President Margaret L. Baptiste today praised Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, for prevailing over opposition to adding several civil service reforms to S. 1390, the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Authorization. Sen. Collins, along with Sens. Herbert Kohl, D-WI, and George Voinovich, R-OH, were able to persuade their colleagues in the Senate on July 23 to approve their amendment, which would allow federal agencies to re-employ federal retirees on a limited, part-time basis without offset of annuity from salary.

“We are grateful to Sens. Collins, Kohl and Voinovich for recognizing that many federal retirees want to continue to make critical contributions to our safety and well-being during this time of national need and when work force shortages have deprived some agencies of employees with critical and specialized skills,” Baptiste said.  “This is a victory for active and retired federal employees.”

The re-employed annuitant proposal had been included in a NARFE-supported amendment offered by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-HI, and Collins, which also would have permitted Federal Employees Retirement System workers to credit their unused sick leave toward their retirement and provided for retirement equity for federal employees in Hawaii, Alaska and the U.S. Territories.  However, Akaka was forced to withdraw the larger reform package after Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, filibustered against the measure for one hour and 20 minutes.

“By the way, if you are a federal employee and unhappy with me trying to defeat this amendment, you should pay attention to something. There is no guarantee to your federal pension based on the economics we face today in this country. If you think it is guaranteed, you have another thought coming because the world economic system is going to determine whether we can honor that pension. That is what is coming. We are very close,” Coburn said.

After the Akaka-Collins amendment was withdrawn, Collins offered her re-employed annuitant proposal as a separate amendment, and the Senate approved it by unanimous consent.

Fortunately, with the exception of Collins’ re-employed annuitant legislation, the other civil service reforms thwarted in the Senate were included in H.R. 2647, the House’s version of the defense bill on June 24.  Following the Senate’s approval on July 23, a conference committee will meet to reconcile the difference between the House and Senate bills.  Baptiste urged the conferees to include the Senate’s re-employed annuitant provisions and the other reforms added to the House bill in the final legislation that will be signed into law by the president.

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NARFE, one of America’s oldest and largest associations, was founded in 1921 with the mission of protecting the earned rights and benefits of America’s active and retired federal workers. The largest federal employee/ retiree organization, NARFE represents the retirement interests of nearly 5 million current and future federal annuitants, spouses, and survivors.