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NARFE President Disappointed in House Passage of Ryan Budget Plan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Contact: Jessica Klement
April 10, 2014 703-838-7760
  jklement@narfe.org


Alexandria, VA
– In response to passage of the fiscal year 2015 budget (H.Con.Res. 96) authored by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-WI, Joseph A. Beaudoin, president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), released the following statement:

“Federal employees have endured a three-year pay freeze, furloughs due to sequestration, a government shutdown and increased retirement contributions for new employees. Through these sacrifices, federal workers already have contributed more than $120 billion toward deficit reduction. Today, the House passed a budget resolution that would demand another $125 billion through increased retirement contributions. This is nothing more than a poorly disguised pay cut.

“The budget plan also calls for arbitrary reductions in the size of the federal workforce. These cuts would diminish the government’s capacity to perform essential functions. Ultimately, attrition proposals such as this fail to save much money, as work is simply shifted to contractors.

“If enacted, the budget’s policies would further erode employee morale and hinder recruitment and retention. Chairman Ryan’s budget sends a clear message – federal employees, and the work they perform, aren’t valued. Is this the message we should be sending to those who take criminals off our streets and keep them behind bars, assist our military at home and abroad, care for veterans, and help us prepare for and recover from severe weather?

“Providing our public servants adequate compensation is about more than just fairness, it is about maintaining an efficient and effective federal government. The House-passed budget would undermine that mission, and it should not be considered by the Senate.”

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The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (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 five million current and future federal annuitants, spouses and survivors