The government spending plan proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) would gouge even more money out of the pockets of beleaguered middle-class federal workers who have already been hit with pay and pension cuts, furloughs and a government shutdown.
Ryan’s fiscal 2015 blueprint would take $125 billion out of federal retirement by making federal employees pay thousands of dollars more per year with no added benefit. For most federal workers, it would mean a 5.5 percent increase in what they contribute toward their pensions.
Bill Dougan, President of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM), says Ryan’s budget has “almost as many cuts as we have seen in the last four years combined into one budget.”
The Republican plan would also end a supplement that allowed federal workers to retire before Social Security begins after 30 years of work and eliminates pensions altogether for new hires into the federal workforce. The government would also end its practice of repaying student loans for federal employees.
“This extremely anti-federal worker budget targets federal workers for an additional $125 billion in cuts, most of which would come from eliminating the chance of a secure retirement for federal employees and abolishing thousands of federal sector jobs that are critical to the U.S. economy and local communities throughout the country,” wrote IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger in a letter to House Representatives.
The Ryan budget passed along party lines in the House, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has already said it has no chance of passing the Democrat-controlled chamber.
Click here to read Buffenbarger’s entire letter to House Representatives.