Md. delegation fires at proposed fed worker pay freeze
Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation and two public employee unions lashed out at a Republican Senate proposal Wednesday that would pay for an extension of President Barack Obama’s payroll tax cut by continuing a pay freeze on federal employees.
The idea, originally included in a report last year by a bipartisan deficit-reduction panel appointed by Obama, calls for a three-year pay freeze for federal workers as well as cutting the government workforce by 10 percent, or about 200,000. Federal workers are already operating under a two-year pay freeze that began this year.
“The Republicans are saying, let’s take it out on our federal workforce,” Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin said on MSNBC Wednesday.
Bipartisan legislation approved last year cut the payroll tax for employees to 4.2 percent from 6.2 percent. Obama proposed cutting the rate again to 3.1 percent in a jobs package unveiled earlier this year. The original cut will expire next month if Congress does not act.
The Senate is headed toward a vote as early as Thursday on the Democratic plan to extend the tax cut and pay for it with a 3.25 percent surtax on income over $1 million a year. But that idea has failed to gather traction with Republicans in either chamber.
“The President and Democrats in Congress are saying we ought to recoup the revenue we won’t get from one group of taxpayers by socking it to another group, a significant number of whom happen to be employers,” Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, said on the floor. ”Think about that: The Democrats’ response to the jobs crisis we’re in right now is to raise taxes on those who create jobs.”
Republicans say their own proposal would generate $111 billion to pay for the payroll tax cut, but it met with sharp resistance from Maryland Democrats on Wednesday. The state is home to 286,810 federal workers. Social Security, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Security Agency are among the many agencies based in the state.
“The Republican payroll tax proposal represents another cynical ploy to single out federal employees for unfair treatment,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the Montgomery County lawmaker who is the top-ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee. “The financial collapse and weak economy were not caused by the men and women who serve the federal government, and they should not be forced to shoulder the entire burden of the cost of recovery.”
Several public employee unions who have members in Maryland agreed.
“We made our sacrifice,” Jacqueline Simon, policy director for the American Federation of Government Employees, said in an interview, referring to the current pay freeze.
Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, argued that federal agencies are already struggling to provide services to the public.
“The Democrats propose paying for the payroll tax cut with a small tax increase on millionaires, while the Republicans propose paying for it by extending a pay freeze already in its second year for middle class federal workers,” she said.
The proposal is not likely to advance in the Democratic-led Senate, but it is the latest example in a series of measures floated to cut the nation's spiraling deficit by freezing salaries or benefits for federal workers. Republicans on Wednesday were quick to note that the idea was not their own, but rather came from the so-called Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction commission created by Obama last year.
Though both Democrats and Republicans have argued that the Simpson-Bowles recommendations are a good start, neither party has fully embraced its ideas.
Comments
I long for the days of the great middle class of the 50's and 60's. The tax rate for the wealthy was 45 percent during the Eisenhower years. Back in the day when politicians tried to do what was best for the country. Today, they do what is best for the lobbyists who own them.
Posted by: BigAlB | November 30, 2011 11:15 PM
God help us if we raise the taxes on the rich one iota.
Posted by: BigAlB | November 30, 2011 11:23 PM
Nice, These leaders didn't have a word to say when state employees had a wage freeze for 3 years. It comes down to politics. Get rid of them all and have term Limits. Pay for it by placing the senators and congress on the same Health insurance programs as Federal workers.
Posted by: Aaron | December 1, 2011 6:33 AM
The Federal workers already make more then the private sector and have all the benifits, health care, pensions, sick days, personal days, all the hollidays. I think we all should quit our jobs and all should close down our small businesses and go work for the Federal Government. We can have all the perks. And when there is no money coming left coming from the tax payers. Then China can pick up the tab. Then the White House now becomes Repubic of China. After all the who cares the politicians have all made their millions.
Posted by: Don Davis | December 1, 2011 7:06 AM
The poor will always want something for nothing and the rich will always rule. it's been that way for 5000 years. Change will only come with revolution and with that, we start the cycle over again. Civil servants now work 4 day weeks, those that work, get excellent pensions and medical care, and we could do with 1/2 of them. For the most part, they are a scurge on the American taxpayer
Posted by: Patriott | December 2, 2011 9:19 AM
Really, your mailman, your VA medical clerk, and your other federal workers make much more than you and never work? Interesting how we at the bottom tend to fight each other like crabs in a barrel. In fact, federal workers are like your teachers, over worked and severely underpaid. I know, I have been both. Actually when it comes to benefits, federal workers used to receive great benefits, to compensate for the poor wages compared to private industry. It has long been understood why they were called civil 'servants'. Now with the constant resentment from other workers who believe those benefits cost the taxpayer too much, those benefits have deminished. They don't get state disability, or even social security, but they still get paid much less in comparison to private citizens. Add that to the fact that federal workers were asked to work 4 days a week, 10 -12 hours a day to save the taxpayers money, not because they are lazy, and still if working in hospitals and other 24 hour agencies work weekends, holidays and nights. Please, turn your ire against who deserves it, the lawmakers who are raising their own salaries, while cutting everyone else's and stop pulling down your average worker, just like your self. And next time, check your bitterness and your facts at the door.
Posted by: Former civil servant | December 3, 2011 7:55 AM
Don, your comments are the type that continue to perpetuate ideas that are factually inaccurate. I'm a current federal employee and I'd like to point a few things out.
1. I pay taxes just like everybody else
2. My salary is certainly no higher than those in similar position in the private industry that my wife works in.
3. Over the last many years I've watched my insurance premiums increase 5-10% every year so it's debatable to say that our benefits are so fabulous. In fact, the very same health plan at my wife's company has lower employee paid premiums.
4. I contribute a significant percentage of my salary towards my government pension plan on top of a percentage that gets taken out automatically that I have no choice in.
Lastly, there are countless benefits that we, as federal employees, don't have that many in the private sector do. It's a give and take. Perhaps if you're so jealous of federal employees you should consider seeking employment with them. The Federal Government is always in need of highly qualified people, because contrary to popular belief those same highly qualified people often leave for private sector jobs with much higher pay and better benefits. It's funny how when the economy is roaring everyone used to pity the government worker, but now that the economy is in the toilet everybody directs their anger at those same people they used to raise their nose at. I know I came into this discussion a few days late but I just had to add my two cents in.
Posted by: current federal employee | December 8, 2011 8:14 AM