Congressman Paul Ryan’s (R–WI) budget outline calls for federal employees to contribute more to their pensions, but the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is none too happy about it. In noting that total federal employee compensation is currently excessive, Ryan is on solid empirical ground. But instead of trying …
The House just voted on a proposal to extend President Obama’s (misnamed) “federal pay freeze” for another year. While Congress has better ways of reducing excessive federal compensation, this approach beats handing out an across-the-board raise. Americans should not have to take a vow of poverty to work in government, …
Federal employees—who work on average a month less than private-sector workers and get paid more—are lobbying for higher pay. Government unions know that Congress is looking for ways to nip and tuck the federal budget, and they’re counting on being left out of the deal. “The Federal-Postal Coalition—a group representing …
President Obama made an oft-repeated claim on Medicare during Wednesday night’s presidential debate that distorts attempts to reform the program. The president accused Governor Mitt Romney of favoring a “voucher” program for Medicare, by citing, ironically, a plan previously supported by Romney’s running mate, Representative Paul Ryan. The voucher label …
Members of Congress will vote Wednesday to freeze their salaries through 2013 and impose the same pay limitation on non-military federal workers. The vote in the U.S. House comes just two days after the Congressional Budget Office confirmed that federal workers are paid 16 percent more in total compensation — …
President Barack Obama wants to extend the temporary payroll tax cut into 2012, and congressional Democrats and Republicans agree. They disagree over how to pay for it. Democrats propose raising taxes on the financially successful. This would discourage potential entrepreneurs from starting new enterprises—not the best idea when job creation …
According to public employees’ unions, federal employees are substantially underpaid, and this year’s pay freeze is just one more slight against workers who could easily earn much more outside the government. It is curious, then, that so many people without federal jobs are lining up for them, apparently hoping to …
Government employees owe $3.3 billion in back taxes, CNBC reports. According to Heritage Foundation fellow James Sherk, the typical federal worker “receives 22 percent more in wages than an equally skilled private sector worker … .” And, says Sherk, when both wages and benefits are toted up, federal workers are …
