On the recordFebruary 15, 2013
I thank my friend from Maryland for yielding. In furtherance of a point he was making, you can cite different studies on this question, so let me cite the authoritative study, the Federal Salary Council, 2012, a finding that Federal employees were paid nearly 35 percent less than employees in similar occupations in the private sector. This study was compiled by experts in labor relations and pay policies, and it used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Federal employees have not asked for a pass, but there is no way to justify singling them out as a solitary target alone, repeatedly picked out and picked on for cuts, apart from the rest of the Federal budget. Three years of frozen pay is a punishing cut in pay. Yet our Federal workforce--although much smaller than it was 25 years ago--is so efficient that they are serving millions more here and abroad. Each of these hardworking civil servants, the best educated and most specialized public employees in the country, either themselves perform essential services the country cannot do without, or render vital support for these services. The majority has graduated from demonizing Federal employees; they now want their pay. They don't have the support from the country to cut Federal pay, so for 3 years they have found a backdoor way to do exactly that with never-ending pay freezes. Mr. Speaker, if enough was ever enough, enough freezes is enough this year.
