The House of Representatives voted today to extend the current pay freeze — which has already lasted two years — through the rest of 2013.
The American Federation of Government Employees denounced the bill, proposed by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., as a “cheap political ploy.” Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., also blasted the bill and said it has no chance of passing the Senate.
But Fitzpatrick said approving a raise at a time when the government is teetering on the edge of the “fiscal cliff” is inappropriate.
“At a time when American families are tightening their belts and businesses are reducing salaries to make ends meet, I believe that the federal government must lead by example,” Fitzpatrick said.
The current Congress ends on Thursday, at which point any legislation still pending will be scrapped, and must be reintroduced in the 113th Congress. It is likely that Republicans will try again to freeze federal pay later this year, before the current freeze expires March 27.
4 Comments
Who cares? There was to be no pay raise until the congress actually passed a budget. That isn’t going to happen. The government will muddle through FY2013 on another CRA, after a bunch of useless drama.
The congress will not produce a budget for FY14 either. Then too, the government will muddle along.
Federal civil servants should not expect any kind of general pay increase due to inflation for the next decade, or longer.
The only way that will change will be with a mass exodus and the private sector hiring away any potential new federal employee.
I am actively discouraging any emerging college graduate from pursuing any kind of career with the government, including active military service.
I am also discouraging people from applying for work for the federal government. I believe most people that work for the government work hard and do a good job, yet federal employees have been called horrible names. We do not contrary to popular belief make on average $70,000 a year. The average federal worker is at grades 5- 7 and made at most around 55,000. I make quite a bit less money working for the federal government than I did in the private sector. Federal employees have paid a lot in the past few years for the horrible economy.
I was not not pleased to see that Obama was trying give Congress a pay raise, despite his threats to cut Social Security and withhold pay for our armed forces if Congress does not give him what he wants. In my opinion, it is a sleazy effort to buy votes in Congress.
Furthermore, I will NEVER support ANY law that takes the right to bear arms away from any AMERICAN! It is UNCONSTITUTIONAL! HE needs to be held accountable for his actions!!!
At some point in time Americans will come to realize that the elected officials who were/are placed in office do not really care about them. It is so transparent it’s absurd. Once an individual becomes a part of the Washington, D.C. political culture, they forget why they are there in the first place. They are protected from all of the actions they themselves create and vote on. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA) has stated that Federal employees don’t deserve a raise because of the financial situation the government is in. Who put the US Government in this situation? As a Federal employee I can honestly say “not me”. We are Americans with families, lives and bills to pay. We are not “expendble government waste products” Ever wonder how revolutions get started in countries? Dysfunctional governments who blame everyone but themselves for the current problems.