Hoyer Decries GOP's Proposed Freeze on Federal Salaries
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House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer doesn’t think much of the GOP's plan to freeze government salaries.
The Maryland Democrat represents a district that is home to thousands of federal employees. Overall, some 200-thousand federal workers live in Maryland. Hoyer says the pay-freeze – which would apply to congressional salaries, as well – has more to do with politics than saving real money.
“…So it will be perceived as: if you’re voting against the bill, you’re voting to increase your own salary. A very good 30-second ad. Isn’t that clever. But it ignores the substance of what has proved to be a very thorny issue.
Just this week, the Congressional Budget Office released a report finding that, on average, federal employees earn about two-percent more than their private-sector counterparts. Counting health insurance and other benefits, the difference grows to 16 percent.
Republican leaders point to the CBO numbers as evidence to support a government pay freeze. For his part, Hoyer says people may not be aware that since 1990, cost-of-living adjustments for federal employees have been contingent on similar increases in the private sector.
I’m Elizabeth Wynne Johnson, reporting in Washington, for 88-1, WYPR.
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Comments
That is such BS. How can you put a blanket statement like that? Federal employees do not make near what the private sector makes. Step increases are how federal employees get their promotions and raises. What about our military and federal law enforcement? Ever seen the federal GS scale? Most federal employees make next to nothing.
They get federal dollars to protect your a$$ with the next terrorist wants to BLOW YOU UP!
Hey I have an idea. Let's freeze step increases for all federal employees and send all the brains in the country to the private sector so the people protecting our nation will only do it for the private sector rates. That way we can make sure all the dumbest federal workers in the country are going up against the elite of the rest of the world.
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