Washington, DC- Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) recently introduced a resolution, H.RES.388, acknowledging the critical services federal employees perform and rejecting efforts to uniquely target their salaries and benefits to reduce the deficit. Lately, federal employees’ ability to effectively carry out their respective agency’s mission has been obstructed.  The government shutdown furloughed 800,000 federal employees and cost the economy billions of dollars. The $85 billion budget reduction from the sequester caused government agencies to furlough their workers, freeze new hiring and reduce overtime.

“Federal employees are the backbone that keeps our government functioning,” said Congresswoman Fudge.  “They maintain and secure the food we eat, protect the places where we work, secure the safety of our Nation’s borders, deliver our mail and keep our national defense systems prepared to respond to any threat, both domestic and abroad.  Federal employees deserve better treatment than they have received from Congress.”

The federal employees’ resolution seeks a sense of the Congress to:

• End the current pay freeze and cuts to federal employee pensions and benefits;
• Block turning the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program into a voucher program, which shifts the costs of health insurance to employees and retirees;
• Prevent a decrease in the multiplier used to calculate the future value of retirement benefits; and
• Protect the Federal Employees Retirement System annuity supplement from elimination, making it possible for a federal employee to plan for retirement earlier than age 62.

Federal employees have contributed nearly $100 billion over ten years to help reduce the government’s deficit, which includes a three-year pay freeze.  As a result, both their lifetime earnings and retirement income have been substantially lowered.

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