AFGE has sent a letter to all U.S. senators urging them to support or oppose various amendments to the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act that will be considered by the Senate next month.
Among the 55 amendments highlighted in the letter are requests to:
- Support Amendment No. 5886, sponsored by Sen. Diane Feinstein, that would prevent any position in the competitive service from being reclassified to an excepted service schedule that was created after Sept. 30, 2020, and limit federal employee reclassifications to the five excepted service schedules in use prior to fiscal 2021.
- Support Amendment No. 6228, sponsored by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, that would increase death gratuities and funeral allowances for federal employees.
- Support Amendment No. 5837, sponsored by Sen. Tom Carper, that would provide workers’ compensation presumptions for federal firefighters for various illnesses arising from their exposures during the course of their careers.
- Support Amendment No. 6184, sponsored by Sen. Jon Tester, that would allow federal first responders (including law enforcement officers, Customs and Border Protection officers, and firefighters) to remain in their accelerated retirement system if they become disabled and are placed in another civil service position due to a work-related injury or illness.
- Support Amendment No. 6256, sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine, that would add $550 million to the Defense Commissary Agency Working Capital Fund for fiscal 2023 to help combat food insecurity among military families and address the impact of inflation on the cost of food.
- Oppose Amendment No. 6211, sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, that would slightly change the markup version of the Cyber and Digital Scholarship program being established for federal employees by allowing for the non-competitive conversion of a person who may have successfully completed up to five years of academic work or training leading to a degree or certificate, and completed five years within the excepted service, to a term, career-conditional or career appointment.
- Support Amendment No. 6251, sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray, that would require a review of the pay for Department of Defense and Coast Guard childcare providers.
- Support Amendment No. 6155, sponsored by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, that would extend National Guard authorities to the mayor of the District of Columbia.
- Support Amendment No. 6157, sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, that would prohibit contracting with employers that violate the National Labor Relations Act.
- Oppose Amendment No. 6043, sponsored by Sen. Deb Fischer, that would expand the so-called “pilot program on enhanced personnel management system for cybersecurity and legal professionals in the Department of Defense” to the rest of DoD’s civilian workforce.
- Support Amendment No. 6398, sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, that would clarify and reform the electoral count process to avoid a repeat of efforts during the 2020 presidential election to subvert the peaceful transition of power.
Click here to read the full letter.
AFGE is the nation’s largest federal employee union and represents 700,000 federal and D.C. government employees across the country and overseas, including 300,000 in the Department of Defense.
