Last Tuesday was a rough night for federal employee and working-family candidates across the country. While many expected a tough mid-term election cycle for worker-friendly candidates, few anticipated the sweeping losses that transpired on Election Day.
So what does this mean for federal employees? For starters, the middle-of-the-road legislation expected of divided Congress can no longer be expected. With Congress in one-party control, there is a very good chance that Congress will take action on numerous bills that are highly partisan in nature. For federal employees, that means the chances are significantly increased that legislation will be moved that includes pension cuts, draconian workforce reductions, and the further squeezing of federal employee pay.
While President Obama’s veto pen could mitigate some of the risk of particularly unfavorable legislation for federal employees, there will be limits to how far the White House can go to protect federal workers if the next Congress proves hostile to the federal workforce.
“In the next Congress federal workers are going to be tested,” said NFFE National President William Dougan. “We are going to have to fight for everything we have, and we are going to need all of our members engaged in that fight in order to prevail in those fights.”
When the fights come, NFFE will be ready to engage.
“There have been many times in years past when Congress has attacked federal employees, and every time NFFE has been there to meet those attacks head-on,” said Dougan. “And we aren’t going to back down from the fight this time around.”
Senator Mitch McConnell is in line to become Senate Majority Leader following the 2014 elections