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NARFE to Budget Committee: Leave Feds Alone

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jessica Klement
March 15, 2016 jklement@narfe.org
  703-838-7760

Alexandria, VA – Richard G. Thissen, president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), told the House Budget Committee the federal workforce has done “more than its fair share” to reduce the budget deficit and said the Committee should not demand additional sacrifices from the federal community. The committee will meet March 16 to work on its fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget resolution. Thissen noted that the committee’s FY  2016 budget targeted the federal community for $318 billion in cuts.
 
“Over the past several years, federal employees endured three years of pay freezes, followed by modest pay raises that did not keep pace with private-sector wage increases. Employees were subjected to furloughs as casualties of budget sequestration and suffered financial uncertainty as a result of the government’s 16-day shutdown. New hires were tapped twice for increased retirement contributions (without any added benefit),” Thissen said in a letter to the committee.

“Taken together, these reductions in the pay and benefits of federal employees reduced the deficit by more than $120 billion,” Thissen continued. “In addition, sequestration-related furloughs cost federal employees more than $1 billion in lost wages in 2013 alone. The federal workforce has done more than its fair share.”

To read NARFE’s full letter to the House Budget Committee, click here.

By way of background, the FY16 House Budget Resolution contained the following, for a total of $318 billion in cuts:

•    An increase in retirement contributions for all current federal employees of roughly 6 percent;
•    A 10 percent reduction of the federal civilian workforce through attrition, whereby one employee would be hired for every three who leave government service;
•    A decrease in the rate of return on the Thrift Savings Plan’s Government Securities Fund (G Fund);
•    Increasing some federal retirees’ share of their health insurance premiums by basing the government contribution on their years of service;
•    Increasing employees’ Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) premiums by tying the government’s employer contribution to inflation, rather than the average cost of the plans;
•    Encouraging the total elimination of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS);
•    Eliminating the FERS Annuity Supplement; and
•    Increasing postal employees’ share of their FEHBP premiums.

Federal employee contributions to deficit reduction over the past several years are as follows:

•    Three-year federal employee pay freeze = $98 billion over 10 years;
•    Increased retirement contributions for employees hired in 2013 = $15 billion over 10 years;
•    Increased retirement contributions for employees hired in 2014 and beyond = $6 billion over 10 years; and
•    Furloughs as a result of sequestration = $1 billion in 2013 alone. 

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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 interests of nearly five million current and future federal annuitants, spouses and survivors.