RESPONSE to S.644

Joseph A. Beaudoin, president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), released the following statement:

“This bill is another unfair and unwise attack on federal employees at a time when the country desperately needs a high quality and vigilant work force. Some politicians claim that these pensions are unsustainable, but, in actuality, the federal pension program is fully funded, actuarially sound and paid for largely by federal employees themselves.

“Changes to policies that affect federal employees threaten the future of the vital services they perform. Without employment packages that are competitive in the professional marketplace, our government will struggle to attract the best workers to protect us.

“Considering the importance of the federal meat inspectors in Kansas who ensure our food is safe or the U.S. nuclear regulators who now are working in Japan to avert a nuclear catastrophe, we can ill-afford to shy away from support for our nation’s federal workers.”

Elimination of Federal pensions by 2013

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., on Thursday introduced a bill (S. 644) that would eliminate the pension portion of the Federal Employees Retirement System for all new government hires beginning in 2013. The legislation would not affect Thrift Savings Plan benefits and agency-matching contributions. Nor would it affect FERS pensions for current federal employees and retirees. It would, however, apply to members of Congress.

"Right now, federal government workers receive far more generous retirement benefits than private sector employees," Burr said. "The cost to taxpayers of these benefits is unsustainable, and we simply cannot afford it. We cannot ask taxpayers to continue to foot the bill for public employee benefits that are far more generous than their own."

Federal employees are eligible for pensions, retirement savings plans with up to 5 percent in matching contribution and retiree health care benefits above and beyond those available to private sector workers, according to Burr. He also asserted that FERS is underfunded by almost $1 billion and the Civil Service Retirement System by $673 billion.

According to Tom Trabucco, director of external affairs for the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, the agency match for FERS participants is dollar for dollar on the first 3 percent of pay contributed to the TSP, and 50 cents on the fourth and fifth percentage points contributed. Agencies also automatically put in 1 percent of basic pay for all new FERS enrollees regardless of the employee contribution. He noted, however, that the arrangement is not equal to a 5 percent total match.

The assertion that federal pension programs are underfunded is rejected by John Gage, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, who called the bill "cruel and useless."

"Sen. Burr is wrong on the facts and wrong on morals," Gage said. "Eliminating pensions for future employees would do absolutely nothing for the fictional unfunded liabilities that the fact-challenged senator imagines he is resolving. Worse, Sen. Burr's bill is a mean-spirited attempt to deprive future employees of any hope of a dignified retirement after they have spent a lifetime in public service."

By Emily Long elong@govexec.com March 18, 2011

ATTACK ON CIVIL SERVICE

Whatever Congress does to Active Federal Employees Congress can easily do to the  Retirees. At present the Active Federal Employees are under attack, but it could  be us as well.  These attacks were mentioned in my last Fed News and now this is an update.    I am asking that you contact John Mica and express your views. A sample  message has been included for your convenience.    Contact Representative John Mica at:  http://mica.house.gov/Contact/ContactForm.htm    This is a sample message you might send to John Mica:    #1.Please, support President Obama’s proposal in his budget for  fiscal year  2011 that would provide federal civilian workers and military personnel a  1.4-percent pay raise next year.    #2.Please, do not take a punitive action against the thousands of federal  employees who are working alongside their uniformed colleagues in Iraq and  Afghanistan by requiring them to forgo a salary increase to partially pay for  the wars they are helping to win?    #3.Please, do not attempt to support or attach an amendment to H.R. 5136 that  would in effect put a pay freeze on Federal Employees. This would be considered  an outright attack on the Civil Service System.    Federal Employees are not the problem; they are part of the solution to the  problem.    (Ctrl + click) http://mica.house.gov/Contact/ContactForm.htm  and follow the instructions. Or you may also call Mica’s Office at202-225-4035  or the Ormond Office at 676-7750.    We must act or more degradation will follow.