House lawmakers want to freeze feds' pay for step increases, bonuses

Republican lawmakers have proposed amendments to the continuing resolution bill being considered by the House this week to take the two-year freeze on federal employees’ salaries further. But labor unions and employee groups are condemning these proposals, saying they would exacerbate the existing financial strain on feds.  

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.) offered amendments on Feb. 16 to the resolution that would deny federal employees additional pay warranted through promotions, scheduled step increases or performance awards.

The federal pay freeze that is currently underway doesn’t affect step increases or bonuses.

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The CR legislation (H.R.1) under consideration would fund the federal government for the remainder of this fiscal year and was introduced on Feb. 11 by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.).

Federal Managers Association National President Patricia Niehaus sent a letter to the House urging its members to reject the amendments brought forth by Issa and Rokita.

“By supporting these amendments, I fear members of Congress are bowing to political pressure stemming from the spread of misinformation relating to both the composition of the federal workforce and the impact instituting a freeze will have on deficit reduction efforts,” Niehaus wrote in the Feb. 16 letter. “Headlines painting feds as overpaid, underqualified and completely insulated from the recession score points through the promotion of falsehoods based on biased data manipulation.”

Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said Issa’s amendment would “have little to no impact on the deficit but would have a great impact [on] the ability of federal agencies to retain skilled employees, recruit promising new employees, and meet their mission.”