Federal Managers Association

Press Release

• FMA NATIONAL PRESIDENT DISCOURAGED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA'S FY14 BUDGET - April 10, 2013

• APPLAUDS CALL FOR ONE PERCENT PAY INCREASE TO END THREE-YEAR PAY FREEZE
  

  Alexandria, VA - Today, the President released the Administration's fiscal year 2014 budget request, which proposes a one percent increase to federal employee salaries, but also asks federal employees to contribute more to their retirement fund and includes Chained CPI.

  The proposals put forth by President Barack Obama in his FY14 budget request include $35 billion worth of cuts to federal employees' take home pay and increased employee contributions toward their retirements. If this budget is enacted, federal managers and all civil servants would see even greater losses to the pay and benefits they were promised and have rightfully earned. 

  "While we certainly support the effort to end the three-year pay freeze, we are troubled that federal employees continue to play a lopsided role in deficit reduction strategies, sending the message that those who serve our nation day in and day out are responsible for our government's spending problem," commented Federal Managers Association (FMA) National President Patricia Niehaus. "While modest, the proposed one percent pay increase is appreciated and certainly preferred over continuing the current three-year pay freeze.

  "FMA continues to oppose any proposal which calls for federal employees to contribute more towards their retirement plan, which is an immediate decrease in the take home pay of millions of hardworking Americans. As federal employees face furloughs due to sequestration that will effectively cut up to twenty percent of their pay through FY13, this budget proposal and the budget resolutions already considered by Congress hits federal workers while they are down. This is an added insult to middle class men and women who are currently sacrificing and struggling.     

  "We are also exceedingly disappointed by the inclusion of Chained CPI in the budget proposal, which would reduce the annual cost-of-living adjustments for the people who earned their benefits through dedicated service and need it most: disabled military veterans, federal retirees and women. This proposal was in neither the House- nor Senate-passed budget resolutions, and we urge Congress to not adopt this harmful calculation method.

  "In these challenging economic times, our members recognize the need to make sacrifices in order to strengthen our economy and are willing to make such sacrifices," Niehaus continued. "However, asking federal employees to contribute still more after they sacrificed more than $100 billion with the current three-year pay freeze is not in line with the notion of 'shared sacrifice.' Federal managers recognize that our country finds itself mired in economic uncertainty, and like many Americans, federal managers accepted the initial pay freeze as a shared sacrifice in the collective effort to pare down our mounting debt. Federal workers are sacrificing greatly through sequestration and do not deserve to disproportionately shoulder the burden of the nation's economic problems.

   "Federal workers are responsible for protecting our food supply, safeguarding our borders, providing care for our veterans, assisting our troops at home and abroad, and providing social security benefits. Yet they continue to be unfairly used as scapegoats for the nation's deficit and budget crisis. We at FMA remain firm in our commitment to ensuring federal employees are not unduly targeted in solutions to the sequester and during ongoing deficit reduction talks. American citizens should know that federal managers also remain committed to ensuring our agencies are run effectively and efficiently during this time of fiscal uncertainty."

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