A 5.3% raise for federal employees⁉️

Oh please😱 it seems to me that federal workers have it pretty good in terms of pay, total compensation and job security. “No other group has been asked to sacrifice,” are you kidding me?  “Increased retirement contributions?” Yeah, to a defined benefit pension that most Americans only dream about. Plus the increased contribution only applies to those hired on and after 2013. “Government shutdown?” They were paid retroactively‼️

The cost of such a pay increase is over ten billion dollars a year in cash compensation plus the added cost related to pensions, thrift plan, etc. That’s enough to provide free state college tuition to over 333,333 students 🤔

I suspect this legislation will go nowhere, but you see, what you read below is an example of unions with legislators in their pocket, an example of influence peddling without consideration of consequences, especially to taxpayers. Public Sector Union PACs contributed more to his last campaign than any other single group or industry.

Not that he is unique of course, but while you hear a great deal about billionaires buying elections which is pure nonsense unless you are being paid to vote and I’m not,  😎  the real influence is between individual members of Congress and unions, corporations and a myriad of special interest groups. Trying to have input into legislation, influence it if you will, is not bad, it’s necessary.

Allowing that input to sway you solely for the limited benefit of a few at the expense of the majority is bad. So, what is the real problem❓

Congressman Gerald Connolly (D-VA) officially introduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act Tuesday, proposing a 5.3 percent raise for all federal employees in 2017.

If passed, the FAIR Act would provide federal employees with a 3.9% across-the-board pay adjustment plus a 1.4% locality adjustment in 2017. This compares to President Obama’s proposal of a combined 1.6% increase for federal employees next year.

“No other group has been asked to sacrifice more than our federal workforce, who have endured years of pay freezes, increased retirement contributions, no locality pay, sequestration cuts and a government shutdown,” Connolly said in a statement. “This bill is a down payment on trying to help restore some of the losses that have been incurred by our dedicated federal employees, and I hope demonstrates we value their public service.”

The 5.3% pay boost was originally proposed by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) earlier this month. Source: myfederalretirement.com