House passes HR 3630 with huge cuts to federal employee pay and benefits.

December 14, 2011

M E M O R A N D U M

SUMMARY:  Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed HR 3630, a bill that offsets extension of the payroll tax holiday with huge cuts to federal employee pay and benefits.

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed HR 3630, a bill that offsets extension of the payroll tax holiday with huge cuts to federal employee pay and benefits.  The vote was 234-193.  The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration there.  NTEU sent a letter to each House member in anticipation of the vote and sent a similar letter to every Senate office opposing passage of this bill today.

The offsets in the bill include, for all current employees:  a one-year extension of the current two-year freeze on federal pay through 2013; a 1.5% increase in employee pension contributions, phased in over three years, and the elimination of the Social Security supplement effective January 1, 2013, except for those with mandatory retirement ages.  The bill also creates a new class of employee, new hires with less than five years of federal service, called “secure annuity employees.”  Those employees would see pension contribution increases of 3.2%; pensions based on high five years of service, rather than high 3 and an annuity “multiplier” reduction that would lower pension values by roughly 30%, effective January 2013.

Colleen Kelley, National NTEU President, pointed out to the senators that this bill singles out hard working, middle class federal employees to bear a disproportionate burden while asking not even the smallest sacrifice by the most affluent.  To see what you can do, visit www.nteu.org.