Frustrated Lawmakers Draw up Plan to Stop Their Colleagues from Robbing You
March 26, 2015
House Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen and his colleagues are fed up with Robin Hood in reverse. They’re fed up with how some of their colleagues are trying to destroy the federal workforce that’s there to carry out our government’s work of promoting and protecting public interest. So this week they came up with their own proposal that stands in stark contrast to the two plans proposed last week by the chairmen of both House and Senate Budget committees.
Van Hollen’s budget blueprint makes it clear that it’s a bad idea to dismantle the very workforce that keeps America running. His proposal would require no more cuts to federal employees’ compensation including their pensions. It would end job-killing sequestration cuts that forced hundreds of thousands of workers to stay home without pay in 2013.
His budget points out that many federal employees, including doctors and lawyers, would have been paid a lot more had they chosen to abandon public service and go to work in the private sector. It also points out that one in three federal employees are veterans, that they have been forced to pay $150 billon out of their own pockets to help reduce the deficits caused by Wall Street and corporate greed, and that federal employees have contributed enormously to the common good through their work.
Last year alone, federal employees addressed a wide range of national priorities, from responding to the Ebola outbreak to helping reduce veterans’ homelessness to helping millions obtain affordable healthcare,” Van Hollen’s budget proposal states.
Van Hollen’s plan would ensure that federal employees have the resources they need to do their jobs. It would block cuts to Social Security, among other things.
Read his policy (section 507) on the federal workforce and how it would affect you here.
