Federal Employees

"I congratulate J. David Cox on his election as National President of the American Federation of Government Employees, and I thank outgoing President John Gage for his many years of service.  I have had the pleasure of working with J. David in his capacity as National Secretary-Treasurer for the past six years, and I know he will do an outstanding job in this new role. 

“Today, for the first time in history, the United States Postal Service is set to default on its obligations because House Republicans refuse to take action on bipartisan postal reform legislation. The Senate passed a bill, by a bipartisan vote of 62-37 in April, that could have prevented default and preserved the Postal Service. Unfortunately, as we head into the August district work period, House Republicans refuse to address this matter at all and are once again walking away from the American people on a critical issue.

Just wanted to make sure you saw these twin editorials in yesterday’s New York Times.  The first chides House Republicans for their continued refusal to accept the Senate’s bipartisan reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, leaving LGBT, immigrant, Native American, and student victims vulnerable.  The second makes it clear who is to blame for delaying much-needed postal service reforms. 

For over a quarter century, John Gage has dedicated his career to making sure that government employees can focus on working on behalf of Americans instead of having to worry about receiving the pay and benefits they have earned through their service.  As national president of the American Federation of Government Employees for the past nine years, John has been a tireless defender of our nation’s public servants during a time when they have been asked to do more with less.  Under his leadership, AFGE has continued to be a leading voice for the collective bargaining rights of all our workers in this country.  The son of a Pittsburgh steel worker and union member, John was raised among working families who saw organized labor not only as a means to defend rights but also to strengthen entire communities and help them achieve the American Dream. 

I am extremely disappointed that Republicans are asking federal employees to take a freeze in pay for a third year in a row.  Federal employees have already accepted two consecutive pay freezes with the knowledge that the savings would be applied toward meeting our nation’s fiscal challenges.  At the same time Republicans were asking federal employees to contribute, they refused to ask the same of millionaires and billionaires. 

Democrats are committed to a deficit reduction plan that asks all Americans to contribute their fair share and prevents sequestration from occurring through a balanced mix of spending cuts and revenues. Unfortunately, the Republican plan is not balanced and makes the wrong choices by ending the Medicare guarantee and targeting the most vulnerable among us, while cutting taxes for millionaires and billionaires.

First of all, federal employees have contributed $75 billion over the last two years towards helping us reduce the deficit – $75 billion. No other working American has been asked to do that. You treat federal employees in this House as second-class working people. That's wrong. This is a 5% tax increase on federal employees. Nobody else. Nobody else do we ask. The richest people in America, we don't ask them to help solve this deficit problem. But federal employees, yes, a $75 billion contribution, and you don't blink an eye because it's easy – because we demagogue about government and, by association, we demagogue about ‘bureaucrats’ used as an epithet.

While Democrats are committed to reducing the deficit in a balanced way, the Republican budget makes the wrong choices and is not a serious attempt at deficit reduction.