Ryan Budget Proposal Threatens Federal Workforce
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Contact: Jessica Klement |
| April 1, 2014 | 703-838-7760 |
| jklement@narfe.org |
Alexandria, VA – In response to the fiscal year 2015 budget proposed 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:
“After enduring a three-year pay freeze, furloughs due to sequestration, a government shutdown and increased retirement contributions for new employees, I thought today’s proposal, which would inflict additional financial hardship on the federal workforce, was an April Fool’s joke. Unfortunately, it is not.
“This budget ignores the fact that federal employees already have contributed over $120 billion toward deficit reduction in recent years. This has reduced employee morale and hindered recruitment and retention. It’s time to stop pickpocketing middle-class American federal workers across the country.
“Chairman Ryan’s proposal to squeeze another $125 billion through increased retirement contributions is nothing more than a thinly veiled pay cut and would exacerbate a growing problem. Furthermore, arbitrary reductions in the size of the federal workforce would diminish the government’s capacity to perform essential functions and would likely fail to save much money, as work would simply be shifted to contractors.
“We rely on federal employees to take criminals off our streets and keep them behind bars; assist our military at home and abroad; care for veterans; help us prepare for and recover from severe weather; and much more. Providing our public servants adequate compensation is about more than just fairness, it is about maintaining an efficient and effective federal government. Chairman Ryan’s budget should be rejected swiftly.”
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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
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