Posted on 07/21/2017 7:52:09 AM PDT by freedumb2003
House Republicans greeted current and future federal employees with two controversial body blows in recent days — one amounts to a pay cut and the other would allow new feds to be fired for “no cause at all.”
The House Budget Committee approved a spending plan that would save the government $163.5 billion over 10 years by taking that amount from federal employees.
(snip)
Republicans call their plan “Building a Better America.” But the Americans now working to build a better country through their federal jobs would be called on to sacrifice again, as they have repeatedly over the years.
(snip)
This represents no understanding that civil service protections are designed to protect not just staffers, but also the public from a government bureaucracy riven with political favoritism, as was the case under the spoils system. Even members of Congress eager to fire feds faster must know that this drastic proposal runs afoul of a basic and long-standing principle that says government staffers should be protected from willy-nilly punishment by political operatives.
(snip)
“Congress and the administration cannot balance the federal budget on the backs of our federal workers,” said one of the letter signers, Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), after the House plan was released Tuesday. “Many of our federal employees work at the CIA, Pentagon, FBI, law enforcement, homeland security and intelligence agencies. They and our federal workforce are dedicated hard-working professionals who work day and night to protect our homeland and national security, cure diseases, and provide services that help the American people.”
(snip)
“This is a plan that the entire House Republican Conference can support,” Black said after her committee advanced the legislation. “I look forward to passage on the House floor.”
Feds look forward with dread.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Notice the eGOP congresscritter against this is from VA, which has been getting rich by its ever-expanding number of Federal do-nothings.
Read the whole article. It is filled with schadenfreude goodness!
I am going to piss off a lot of Freepers here, but here is what I believe.
1. There should be no cost of living increases for military, social security, and other retirements. The military accepted a 50% pension for the rest of their lives, not a 50% with COLA.
2. Same with Social Security, there should be no COLA.
Now I expect almost total support on this: Congress needs to live under the laws they passed, which means Obamacare and Social Security, not special programs.
Needs to be the next amendment to the Constitution, all pols must live by the laws they write and pass for the unwashed masses.
She implied that they "heal the sick" but she left out "raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons."
Room for improvement there.
I would be curious if the Civil Service COLA has charted the same course as retirees on Social Security or military retirement.
I believe that I saw where food stamps and other welfare (especially Section 8 housing and “refugee” payments) are up much more than the COLA for SS recipients.
And specifically preclude special entitlements, retroactively.
Federal employees have far better salaries, health care and pensions than the average American. They don’t need “tenure” too.
I believe there should be no COLA.
That is such a specious argument. Of course we cannot find a trillion dollars of fed "worker" salary to cut. But, in the final analysis, the job of the govt is to spend our tax money. With fewer people, they cannot spend as much. If you cut the fed labor force by half (excluding military), I'd wager fed spending would go down by 35% to 40%. There has to be a multiplier at work here; maybe not 1, but certainly greater than 0.
So, yes, you CAN balance the budget on the backs of federal employees.
Cause is we don’t need them. We don’t want them. If they are do important, private industry will gladly take them on. If they are dead expensive wood, truth hurts.
LOLOL....stop it...my sides are splitting. A Tea Party group just got its non-profit status granted last week...EIGHT YEARS after they applied!
To federal "workers," the only reason government exists is to expand and create yet more government. So the government is populated by big government liberals; packing the government with even more of those is the ultimate "political favoritism."
They and our federal workforce are dedicated hard-working professionals who work day and night to protect our homeland and national security, cure diseases, and provide services that help the American people.”
I do declare, with such 'hard-working professionals' on our side, I can't imagine how we haven't got air-tight national security, a cure for all diseases, and NO Americans that need help!
Just so long as the hit is to ALL non-military federal employees. Including congressmen and senators and their staffs.
I paid into SS for 50 years. If I had been able to invest the same amount in my own retirement investments, I would have accumulated 10X to 20X what the government is going to return to me in my just-started retirement. The taxes I would have paid on my personal savings alone would probably have exceeded the amount I will get paid out.
AND, I would get to bequeath whatever I didn’t spend to my kids rather than getting no payout when I die. SS is thoroughly corrupt for responsible citizens who plan their futures.
So you are going to begrudge a paltry 1% or 2% COLA?
And you missed “stop sea-level rise”.
“Congress needs to live under the laws they passed...”
This change alone would guarantee we return to the land of the free; the home of the brave.
Now that you mention that maybe We the People should focus on and demand this be the law of the land (maybe we should have been doing that from the beginning).
Supreme Court Rules: Social Security is NOT a Binding Contract:
http://blog.independent.org/2013/01/23/supreme-court-rules-social-security-is-not-a-binding-contract/
Hate to say this, but if you are dependent on social security you are a Government mind numbed robot.
Actually, the law IS written with a COLA.
So they did accept a retirement with COLA.
Just facts.
OK, I have been wrong before.
Show me on my contact with the US Government I am entitled to COLA.
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