Obama Freeze Leaves Lots of Federal Workers Out of the Cold

Today, President Obama announced a proposal to freeze pay for about 2 million federal workers for two years. The move is projected to save about $60 billion over the next decade. That's not nuthing. As Carolyn Lochhead notes:

The pay-freeze…is much more significant than Obama's previous feints on the budget, such as his proposed freeze on non-security discretionary spending, which omitted most of the budget. It also follows the recommendations of at least two conservative think tanks, the Reason Foundation and the Cato Institute, not the usual source for administration ideas.

But lest we get too excited about the new cost-cutting Obama, some quick hits from around the web about who won't be impacted by the freeze:

"The proposal, which must be approved by Congress, would not apply to the military, but it would affect all others on the Executive Branch payroll."

"It would not affect members of Congress or their staffs, defense contractors, postal workers or federal court judges and workers."

"The freeze 'will not impact step increases or bonuses for federal workers.'  It applies to cost-of-living increases, mainly.  If an agency wants to give a worker an increase, they just need to increase their pay grade or boost their bonuses to make it happen."

For some really big ideas on how to slash governement, revisit our super spooky November issue.