Government affairs
Legislative Updates
Rep. Anthony Brown (D-MD) has introduced the Federal Employee Pension Fairness Act (H.R. 3269), a bill that would repeal the annuity pension calculation and restore it to 0.8 percent instead of the 3.1 percent paid by employees hired after 2012 and the 4.4 percent for those hired after 2013.
Similar legislation was introduced by Brown’s predecessor in the 114th Congress, but it failed to make it out of committee.
H.R. 3269 also calls for omitting offsets included in the previous legislation that would close loopholes allowing corporations to avoid U.S. corporate taxes and revise corporate inversion rules, in hopes of encouraging more supporters for the bill. At its introduction, H.R. 3269 was co-sponsored by 20 other Democrats.
“Federal employees are essential to making the government work for Americans across our diverse nation,” Brown said. “Congress cannot continue to squeeze these middle-class, hardworking public servants to try and balance the budget. These workers are not the drivers of our debt, and targeting them for benefit and pay cuts is wrong. If we continue to treat them unfairly, it will become more and more difficult to recruit and retain a 21st-century workforce. The American people deserve and need the best and brightest working for them.”
“NALC is proud to support this effort to restore fairness to letter carriers and all federal emplyees who have been forced to contribute more of their earnings toward retirement contributions,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said. “Veterans, who make up over 30 percent of the workforce, and those who began their service by working for a federal agency should not be subject to increases that take money away from them and their families.
“We hope Congress will take up this important legislation to restore fairness,” Rolando said, “instead of pursuing deeper cuts to the health and retirement of federal workers.”
Letter carriers should encourage their congressional representatives to support federal employees by expanding their net take-home pay instead of cutting their benefits while increasing mandatory pension contributions.
