A new report has emerged that Senate Republicans are considering increasing the amount federal employees have to contribute towards their retirement to 15.6% of their annual salaries.
Politico reported that it obtained a draft copy of reconciliation text from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) which contains the revised increase to the pension contribution figures.
Presumably, if this were to be formally put on the table it would only apply to new federal employees since the previous proposal this is modifying was written that way, but the article does not state that specifically.
Furthermore, there was opposition in the House of Representatives to making changes to the retirement benefits for current federal employees when the reconciliation bill was being debated, so that also makes it unlikely that proposals to change current federal employees’ retirement benefits would be put forth.
Most federal employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) currently pay 4.4% towards their retirement if they were hired in 2014 or later, so this would be an 11.2% increase.
Politico states in its report that members of Congress and their staff would be exempt as would federal law enforcement officers (including border personnel and Capitol Police).
The report also states that law enforcement officers would also be exempt from the 10% fee for union dues that was in the HSGAC’s previous proposals. One of those would establish a 10% fee to cover administrative costs for any optional payroll deductions made by federal employees to certain tax-exempt organizations, such as unions. It was proposed because the government currently incurs costs to establish and facilitate payroll deductions for federal employees, so the lawmakers felt that the government should at least break even on those costs.
Absent from this draft text were the at-will employment option for newly hired federal employees, charging unions for official time, and giving the executive branch authority to reorganize federal agencies that were in the previous version.
The Committee is considering these changes in response to the Senate parliamentarian striking some of the provisions from the HSGAC reconciliation text for being in violation of the Byrd Rule. One way to address that is to modify and resubmit the legislative proposals.
Before anyone reads this and gets too worried, keep in mind that Politico’s report is based on a draft copy of the legislative text. Even if it is formally introduced, the spending bill which contains these proposals still has further to go in the legislative process before becoming law, assuming it gets there.
These kinds of proposals are subject to changes or elimination as part of the legislative process as we have seen with these proposed benefits cuts for federal employees. When they were first proposed back in April in the House of Representatives, the list looked much different.
There is a good chance we will continue to see changes as the process unfolds. Definitive answers will come if and when the bill becomes law and if these proposals make it through intact. We’ll continue to keep you updated as the process plays out.
