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Federal Employees Face Cuts To Retirement Benefits And Pay Freezes
Screw citizens who work for our government, who work on our behalf to better our country and society. That's what Trump and Republican say.
....the Trump administration is considering changes that might make federal work less rewarding, including a $143.5 billion cut in federal retirement benefits that would affect current and future retirees.
....the administration wants to freeze salaries next year, and is considering a broader overhaul of civil service laws, all of which has public-employee groups nervous.
In addition to the pay freeze, Trump suggested.... that federal employees contribute more toward their pensions and lose eligibility for a Social Security supplement for those who retire early. He also proposed getting rid of cost-of-living adjustments for most retirees’ annuities, decreasing general returns from the Thrift Savings Plan, reducing paid time off, and having employees pay a higher portion of their health insurance premiums, among other changes.
A federal pay freeze would be harmful to agencies looking to retain quality employees and recruit new ones. Congressmen and women including Republicans have pressed administration officials on how they could streamline the onboarding of new employees and recruit better workers and said that freezing federal pay would not be helpful in achieving those goals.
"And that's a key component for updating the workforce," Jeff Pon, director of the Office Of Personnel Management said. "I don't believe we should look at a federal job for 30 years and then retire and then have lifetime retirement anymore."
The American Federation of Government Employees, which released a letter Pon sent to House speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., calls the proposed cuts "shameful."
Attracting the best and brightest to work for the Federal Government is nearly impossible already, let alone pending these wreckless proposals.
Trump implemented a temporary hiring freeze last year, and is proposing a pay freeze for next year.... there's all that rhetoric about "draining the swamp" and the evils of the administrative state. For a 22-year-old graduating from college, it's not a great pitch.