On the recordApril 15, 2013
I just wanted to thank Mr. Chaffetz and Mr. Issa for this bill. Initially, there was a bill involving only Federal employees. And we had a concern that often when bills come forward for Federal employees, they are not bills that recognize the substantial funds that contractors receive. And Chairman Issa and Chairman Chaffetz looked closely at it and now have come forward with a contractor's bill as well. I do want to say in light of the fact that I'm going to oppose the next bill-- and I do believe there's a difference between employees and contractors, and I don't want to get into that right at this moment--I do want to say that for Federal employees undergoing a pay freeze and furloughs, there's one thing Uncle Sam can do that apparently hasn't been done with many contractors. He can garnish wages. And you can bet your bottom dollar if there's a Federal employee that owes taxes and you can prove that money is owed to the Federal Government, his pay will be garnished. But as we heard the gentlelady from California say, these contractors continue to receive the largesse--I guess that's how they regard it--of the Federal Government. It certainly can be distinguished in that way. But I do believe that the chairman of the full committee and the subcommittee deserve credit for, in fact, moving at least where they saw that there should be some equity, that contractors would be treated similarly to Federal employees.
