Pay Cuts For Thee, But Not For Me (if Me is a Federal Worker)
Despite President Obama's call for federal employees to "do their part" and accept smaller-than-usual pay raises, Congress is considering a budget that could spend an additional $1.3 billion or more on pay for civilian federal workers.
While some states and private companies are slashing jobs and pay, Congress is advancing a budget that could change a 2% raise proposed by Obama for 1.9 million non-military federal workers to at least 2.9%— which is the amount the president proposed for military employees.
"It feels like this is not a good time to be taking a pay increase," said Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog group that supports freezing pay for civilian federal workers. "Everyone else in the country is taking huge cuts, losing jobs."