Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) has announced that the fiscal year 2014 Financial Services Appropriations Bill approved by the full Appropriations Committee includes safeguards for federal employees.
Mikulski put language in the bill to:
- Continue a government-wide suspension of new A-76 contracting-out;
- Direct agencies to identify wrongly-outsourced work and bring it back in-house;
- Prevent the work of federal employees from being outsourced without comparing the cost of federal employees and contractors; and
- Prohibit arbitrary freezes or cuts to the size of the federal workforce by requiring agencies to manage workload based on available funds and workforce necessary to carry out the agencies’ missions and functions.
“Whenever deficit reduction comes up, federal employees are the first to take a hit,” Senator Mikulski said. “I’m proud of the work that we’ve done for our federal employees, but the job isn’t over. Continuing efforts to prevent outsourcing and contracting-out is important both for American taxpayers and our federal employees.”
In the next step of the appropriations process, the bill will move to the Senate floor for a vote, which has not yet been scheduled.
