Friday, July 21, 2017
Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) applauds the introduction of the Federal Employee Pension Fairness Act of 2017 (H.R. 3269) in the U.S. House of Representatives. NFFE commends Representative Anthony Brown (D-MD) along with the 20 original cosponsors of the bill for their courage and commitment to protect the retirement security of our nation’s public servants.
“The Federal Employee Pension Fairness Act of 2017 is needed now more than ever,” stated Randy Erwin, NFFE National President. “Congress continues to push for cuts to federal employee retirement to provide tax relief for the wealthy. This revolting attack on the financial security of America’s public servants will only hurt the country as a whole, and it will add to the financial instability of the middle class.”
In recent years, federal employees have become the target of political attacks from members of Congress who seek further cuts to benefits and pensions even though federal employees have already lost $182 billion in earnings since 2010. The loss of earnings came in the form of repeated pay freezes and individual contribution increases for benefits and pension plans along with other schemes labeled as cost-saving measures. On average, federal employees make an average of 35% less than their counterparts working in the private sector—a number that continues to grow—with federal pay dropping 6.5% in the last decade alone.
Still, Congress continues to unfairly target federal workers by proposing massive cuts to mandatory spending and employee pensions. The Federal Employee Pension Fairness Act of 2017 will help to reverse some of the damage done to workers in recent years by decreasing the mandatory pension contributions for new federal employees from 4.4 percent to 0.8 percent. This small change in the law will increase take home pay and provide greater contributions to state and local economies.
“The federal government is one of the biggest employers in every state in the U.S.,” Erwin continued. “An attack on federal employee benefits and pensions is a direct attack on state and local economies. The two are intricately linked, and the success of one is dependent upon the vitality of the other. I hope state and local leaders realize the impact that these potential cuts will have on their communities, and I hope they force Congress to abandon its plan to cut federal benefits and pensions.”