On the recordFebruary 1, 2012
I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, Washington is the headquarters of the Congress. It is not the headquarters of Federal employees. Eighty-five percent of them live in other cities and in towns and suburbs. Let's all agree that deficit reduction is a priority, and that it is appropriate to lead from the top. Nor should Federal employees be exempt from this leadership by example. But it starts at the top, not at the bottom of the Federal workforce. These Federal employees live under often greatly differing costs of living, depending on where they live in the country. It is up to us to lead by example, not Federal employees, although they should not be exempt from this leadership role. However, it is an unfair ruse to compare the most-favored Federal employees, Members of Congress, with the least favored, Federal employees across the board. Some are paid a great deal, some are paid very little, some come from high-cost areas of the country, some come from low-cost areas of the country. Most of our constituents will understand who we were voting for and who we were voting against. Democrats have a long history of respecting civil servants. Republicans have spent years deriding them in good times and bad. They know full well also that Congress would not dare take a raise now, and they know that Federal employees should not become, as they apparently have, the proverbial piggy bank for all-purpose deficit reduction.…
