Steve Lynch: “I appreciate the gentleman's comments. Mr. Speaker, I do want to point out, though, if we're talking about what's fair…”

“I appreciate the gentleman's comments. Mr. Speaker, I do want to point out, though, if we're talking about what's fair and what's not fair, I think the Federal employees have taken it on the chin recently. They're in year three of their pay freeze. A lot of them say that's not fair because as costs keep going up, their pay has been frozen for the past 3 years. Now, on top of the third-year pay freeze, they're being asked--at least 700,000 employees in the Department of Defense, including civilian employees that we rely on for a lot of key services--are being asked to take 11 days on furlough without pay. About 100,000 other Federal employees are being asked to take between 2 and 5 days right now. The first year of sequestration I think we cut $37 billion. This year we will cut $52 billion, next year is 60. And this is just year 2 in a 10-year furlough schedule. So if you want to talk about unfair, I think that they're being asked to do more than their share. I do want to remind the gentleman that the bonuses and awards limited by this bill, H.R. 1541, are based on performance. The quality step increases are given to rank-and-file employees who achieve superior performance. The Presidential Rank Awards are given to senior employees who achieve extraordinary results or who are able to sustain superior accomplishments.…”