Key senators back extending federal pay freeze

[alp227]

Source: WaPo

Senators with oversight of the federal workforce said Friday that Congress should freeze the pay of federal employees for a third year and retool calculations of federal retirement benefits in order to cut the federal deficit.

Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also said no workers in any of the three branches of the federal government should be spared from cuts under consideration by the supercommittee on deficit reduction.

The two senators, who frequently side with Democrats on key legislation, said a third year of pay freezes for federal employees would save about $32 billion. “All Americans, including those of us in the public sector, must help get our country out of the hole we are in,” they wrote to the supercommittee.

Lieberman and Collins also said they endorse President Obama’s proposal to reduce the deficit by requiring federal workers to contribute an additional 1.2 percent of their salaries toward retirement benefits, phased in over three years. That move, they said, would save about $21 billion over the next decade. They said the changes also should apply to the judicial and legislative branches, including members of Congress.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/key-senators-back-extending-federal-pay-freeze/2011/10/14/gIQAF2KskL_story.html

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Collins' DC office: [phone]
Liberman's: [phone]

[tblue]

1. Yes. Let's squeeze a little more blood out of that turnip.

And they wonder why there is OWS.

[msongs]

2. eliminate senators' retirements and health care. that should save a few bucks nt

[oldhippydude]

4. exactly the wrong thing to do

during a time of weak demand.. any increases will be spent, having a stimulating effect on the economy...

[blkmusclmachine]

3. This is what drowning the Country in a bathtub looks like, folks.

How much longer 'til they've killed it off?

[RVN VET]

5. What a great recruiting tool

Cut their pay and freeze it at the same time! Boy, I'd love to get a job working for that outfit, wouldn't you? Of course . . .not. This is another way to kill government, it's both subtle and more direct at the same time.

Oh, the 1.2% increase would apply to legislators? Don't hold your breath waiting to see that happen. Lieberguy and the old broad from Maine aren't going to be affected by it because they don't subscribe to the new retirement system, anyway. And the new retirement system, itself? All of these turkeys can opt out of it whenever they like and more than half of them never opted into it in the first place.

So, let's see: freeze and cut the pay of 2,000,000 American workers -- yes! Raise the taxes of the rip off artists who have stolen 50% of the nation's wealth? No way!

I don't have bitter enough invective to throw at the hypocrites.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

6. All federal wage increases should be the same as Social Security COLA increases.

If there is not any inflation for Social Security recipients then the rest of the people obviously don't need a pay increase either including the president, senators through the military and everyone else.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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[No Elephants]

8. Congressional compensation cannot be reduced between terms because of a Constitutional amendment.

"No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened."

Not sure about the President's salary.

But, refraining from increases seems Constitutional.

I agree with the poster who said no one should get an increase if Social Security (or welfare) is not increased.

[dotymed]

9. "They" sure don't "get it."

One of the main themes of these international OWS protests is the inequity being forced on the workers. If they actually wanted to help solve some of these economic problems, they would have suggested that the wealthy pay their share of the taxes.

They said the changes also should apply to the judicial and legislative branches, including members of Congress. Wow, as if these "government employees" actually depend on their salaries as their major source of income. "Our" elected and appointed officials usually go into their jobs without much extra money but that quickly changes. Almost all of them quickly become millionaires and it is not off of their salaries. It is all about corruption.

That alone points to a corporate, fascist government. Most average civil servants earn meager salaries but they (used to) have decent benefits. Currently. the civil servants are mostly hired as "part-time or "temporary" workers.

This makes them ineligible for benefits. There are exceptions to every rule. As a disabled person (schedule A disability) according to the rules I am given a hiring priority, supposedly I am allowed to be appointed to a position and bypass the competitive process. After 6 years and hundreds of applications, I have not been interviewed for a job even though I have received a few "highly qualified" rating letters. It is who you know not what you know.

That is true no matter what category they assign you to. Without a fair redistribution of the wealth there is no hope.

[cstanleytech]

10. They need to freeze their own pay and retool their own government entitlements first

before touching anyone elses otherwise they are total hypocrites.

[SoapBox]

12. Ditto, Ditto, Ditto...I most certainly agree. Stuff like this needs to be TOP down!

[SoapBox]

11. I'm probably gonna get flamed for this but....I agree (somewhat).

At my employer...we are non-union. We have tried and tried and tried...but the company always keeps a union out.

Our pay scale STOPS at 12 years of seniority...after that...zip. Many thousands of us have been really
working for the same (or less) pay RATE for years and years. You can increase (or decrease) your pay
based on the amount of time that you want to work...personally, at this time, I work less.

In the current environment, I'm not so sure that automatic pay increases are, well, correct.

Just keeping a job these days is a miracle.

[swilton]

13. This is why OWS makes sense

They never get tired of attacking the middle class.

[blue_onyx]

14. What they really mean...

when they say this:

“All Americans, including those of us in the public sector, must help get our country out of the hole we are in,”

is all Americans except the rich and corporations. Only the middle class and poor have to sacrifice while "job creators" rake in the money.