Chris Van Hollen: “I thank my colleague, Mr. Hoyer. This bill accomplishes three very important objectives: it extends the payroll tax cut…”

“I thank my colleague, Mr. Hoyer. This bill accomplishes three very important objectives: it extends the payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans; it extends unemployment insurance to millions of Americans who are out of work through no fault of their own; and it supports the Medicare program. So I am not here on the floor today to urge my colleagues to vote against this bill. In fact, I'm confident it will pass. The bill is also significant for what it will not do. Unlike the original Republican House bill which cut compensation for current Federal employees by about $40 billion, this bill does not cut compensation for any current Federal employee, not one cent. Let me repeat that. I'm pleased that Senator Cardin and I and other members of the conference committee were successful in holding harmless our hardworking current Federal employees. That being said, I'm going to vote ``no'' to send a message that enough is enough when it comes to using the Federal workforce as a piggy bank to fund our various national initiatives. Here's why. While no current employees are impacted by this bill, it does cut compensation for future employees hired starting in January 2013; and that will, as Mr. Hoyer said, it will make it much more difficult for us to attract the Federal employees we need to do our national work together as part of our Federal service.…”