FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cory Bythrow, Communications Director
Phone: (202) 216-4458
Washington, D.C. – In response to the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government’s passage of an appropriations bill extending the federal pay freeze through 2013, National Federation of Federal Employees National President William R. Dougan issued the following statement:
“We are deeply disappointed that the subcommittee has chosen to freeze federal pay for an additional year. A third year of frozen pay would be a tremendous step backwards for federal families, many of whom are already backed up against the fiscal cliff. For many others, a third year of frozen pay means a third year of dreams deferred: sending children to college, caring for parents in need, making needed repairs to the home, and much more would have to wait another year.
Federal workers deserve a modest cost of living adjustment after two years of sacrifice through frozen pay and increased retirement contributions. No single group has sacrificed more toward restoring the nation’s fiscal health than the $75 billion in savings realized from federal employee compensation and benefit cuts. Asking for another year’s pay freeze, which would rob billions more from federal employees over the next decade, is simply unconscionable.
The most disappointing part of all of this is the failure to recognize the importance of federal workers and the services they unselfishly provide Americans every day. An indefinite freeze on federal pay is the single most effective strategy our politicians can employ to ensure that we have a second rate federal workforce. They need to ask themselves whether they want the best and brightest workers protecting our skies, adjudicating our passports, and caring for our veterans, or simply the lowest bidder? The choice is simple. Congress must do the right thing and give federal workers the respect and cost of living adjustment they have earned.”