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Discover how the latest legislative proposals from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs could significantly impact federal employees. In this video, we provide an in-depth analysis of the newly released legislative text under consideration as part of the reconciliation bill currently in Congress.
📌 What You’ll Learn:
Key legislative proposals and their implications
Detailed breakdowns on at-will employment options, MSPB filing fees, FEHB audits, pay deductions, union charges, cost-cutter bonuses, and more
A comparison of House and Senate proposals
đź’Ľ Stay Informed: Whether you're a federal employee or closely following government affairs, this video will help you understand the potential changes that could affect your benefits and employment conditions.
đź”— Related Articles:
Senate Adds Cuts to Federal Employees’ Benefits in the “One Big Beautiful Bill”
https://www.fedsmith.com/2025/06/13/senate-adds-cuts-to-federal-employees-benefits-in-the-one-big-beautiful-bill/
Important Changes to Proposed Benefits Cuts in House-Passed Spending Bill
https://www.fedsmith.com/2025/05/28/important-changes-to-proposed-benefits-cuts-in-house-passed-spending-bill/
⏱️ Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:23 Details of Legislative Proposals
1:28 At-Will Employment Option
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
the Senate has released legislative
0:02
proposals to be considered as part of
0:04
the reconciliation bill that's currently
0:06
working its way through Congress and
0:08
some of these would have a significant
0:10
impact on federal employees namely on
0:12
their pay and benefits let's take a look
0:14
at the details hello everyone Ian Smith
0:16
here with fedsmith.com thank you for
0:18
taking the time to join me so what are
0:21
these legislative proposals well they're
0:25
they've been put forth by the Senate
0:27
Committee on Homeland Security and
0:30
Governmental Affairs they released some
0:32
legislative text with a number of
0:34
proposals
0:36
and it's adding on to the reconciliation
0:39
bill that's currently going through
0:40
Congress right now also known as the one
0:43
big beautiful bill and this is the same
0:45
bill that was passed by the House last
0:47
month in the House version of the bill
0:50
had some of these same proposals in them
0:53
some were different so at any rate let's
0:56
take a look at the details here these
0:58
proposals are being put forth to cut
1:00
spending one thing that the the Senate
1:03
uh Homeland Security and Government
1:05
Affairs Committee was was touting was
1:08
was the savings that go with these um
1:10
just for the package of the proposals
1:13
that would impact federal employees the
1:16
most they were saying that they would
1:18
amount to over 24 billion in savings
1:21
over the next 10 years
1:23
let's take a look at at each of these
1:26
individually the first one is an atill
1:29
employment option for newly hired
1:30
federal employees if this sounds
1:33
familiar it's because it was also in the
1:35
House version of the bill however what
1:38
the Senate is proposing builds on the
1:40
House version
1:42
um for newly hired federal employees who
1:45
opt to keep their civil service
1:47
protections under um title five it would
1:51
increase the amount they have to
1:52
contribute to FURs that's the federal
1:54
employees retirement system by 10%
1:58
so that would be 14.4% 4% total for most
2:02
federal employees if they take the
2:05
atwill option it would increase that fee
2:09
by 5% so 9.4% total the House version of
2:13
the bill is a little different if they
2:17
kept their protections it would be a 5%
2:21
increase and if they took um or if they
2:25
opted for the atill option no additional
2:28
increase in their first contribution so
2:30
that's the difference in those two next
2:33
up is the MSPB filing fee we saw this in
2:36
the House version of the bill it's the
2:39
same in the Senate version it um
2:42
proposes a $350 filing fee for claims or
2:47
appeals for the to the Merit System
2:50
Protection Board and this fee would be
2:53
refundable on successful appeals
2:56
something that the Senate committee
2:58
noted is that this fee is the same as
3:00
what is charged for civil matters in
3:02
most district courts so that apparently
3:05
is the origination of this fee and the
3:07
amount
3:09
the idea is to cut down on frivolous
3:11
claims or as the Senate committee put it
3:14
in its literature on these proposals
3:18
baseless claims quote unquote they
3:19
called them the next provision is um
3:22
audits for the FEB the federal employees
3:25
health benefits program we saw this in
3:27
the House version of the bill as well
3:29
it's pretty much the same in here this
3:31
would require uh eligibility
3:33
verification of family members added to
3:36
FEB plans audits for looking for
3:40
ineligible family members who are
3:42
receiving benefits and also it would um
3:45
require disenrollment of any ineligible
3:48
beneficiaries
3:49
um estimated savings on this proposal
3:52
are two billion the next proposal is a
3:54
new proposal in the Senate version of
3:57
the bill um this would be pay deductions
4:00
for federal employees so what this would
4:02
do it would impose a 10% fee to cover
4:06
administrative costs for any optional
4:08
payroll deductions made to certain
4:11
taxexempt organizations coming out of a
4:13
a federal employees paycheck such as
4:15
unions contributions to organizations
4:19
via methods that don't require
4:21
government resources such as writing a
4:23
check or transferring money via AC would
4:26
not be affected
4:29
this is being done because the
4:30
government incurs costs to process these
4:33
transactions and according to the Senate
4:35
committee the government should at least
4:38
break even on any elective payroll
4:40
deductions to organizations like unions
4:43
and speaking of unions the next proposal
4:47
is definitely taking u is putting
4:50
restrictions on federal employee unions
4:52
in the government this proposal would
4:54
restrict the use of official time and
4:56
government resources for union
4:58
activities now what's official time
5:00
official time is given to federal
5:03
employees to work on behalf of a union
5:06
while they continue to receive their
5:08
full salary and benefits as a federal
5:11
employee
5:13
um under this proposal unions would be
5:15
required to reimburse the government for
5:17
use of official time and resources for
5:20
union activities
5:22
this is something that has come up
5:24
before um in his first term actually
5:27
President Trump tried to do some of this
5:29
via executive order this if it were to
5:32
remain in the bill and of course be
5:34
passed into law it would basically be
5:35
codifying that into legislation the next
5:38
proposal is bonuses for cost cutters now
5:42
this is a proposal pretty much from
5:45
Senator Ran Paul Republican from
5:47
Kentucky who is also the chairman of
5:49
this Senate committee he has proposed
5:52
this in the past via separate
5:54
legislation um but this would include it
5:58
as part of the larger um reconciliation
6:01
bill it's designed to counteract the
6:04
tendency for wasteful spending to happen
6:06
in government towards the end of end of
6:08
a fiscal year i.e the use it or lose it
6:12
mentality as it's called so instead of
6:15
aggressively spending these funds toward
6:19
the end of a fiscal year so that the
6:21
agency could keep that amount that same
6:24
amount of money in its budget for the
6:26
next year
6:28
it creates a financial incentive for
6:30
federal employees to report this type of
6:32
wasteful spending if and when they see
6:34
it so it would do this by paying bonuses
6:37
to federal employees who report this
6:39
wasteful spending and under the terms of
6:43
what's being proposed here it would be
6:45
the lesser of $10,000 or an amount equal
6:49
to 1% of the AY's cost savings
6:52
determined to be the total savings
6:54
attributable to the disclosure put forth
6:57
by the employee
7:00
and in the past when it's been
7:01
introduced as separate legislation it
7:03
was known as the uh bonuses for cost
7:05
cutters act and the last proposal that's
7:08
going to be of significance to federal
7:11
employees is one that would rescend the
7:14
postal services electronic vehicle funds
7:18
under the inflation reduction act the
7:21
Biden administration gave a billion
7:23
dollars to the postal service for
7:27
purchasing and installing electric
7:28
vehicles EVs
7:31
and what the Senate is saying is that
7:33
the postal service is losing money like
7:35
crazy to the tune of billions every year
7:38
and so this is just yet another
7:40
requirement on the postal service to
7:43
spend money that doesn't need to be
7:44
there it would rescend that billion
7:46
dollars and also require that the
7:49
electric vehicles and any unused
7:51
infrastructure that goes with them uh to
7:54
be sold so that's a summary of the key
7:56
proposals in in this legislative text
7:59
that the Senate committee has put forth
8:02
that again are is going to be of most
8:04
interest to federal employees it builds
8:06
on the House version of the bill three
8:08
of the provisions are the same or very
8:09
similar the Atwill employment option the
8:13
MSPB filing fee and the FEB audits the
8:17
Senate proposal as I mentioned it does
8:20
expand on the at will employment option
8:22
by upping the fee in question um or fee
8:26
isn't the right word but the the
8:28
contribution amount towards um towards
8:31
FURs there is one proposal in the House
8:33
version of the bill the the version that
8:35
passed the House last month that is
8:37
different and that is the proposal to
8:40
eliminate the FURs annuity supplement
8:42
but what that proposal would do it would
8:43
eliminate the FURs annuity supplement
8:46
effective at the start of 2028 it would
8:49
not apply to federal employees already
8:50
entitled to it under law before the bill
8:53
was enacted and it would not apply again
8:56
as currently written to federal
8:58
employees subject to mandatory early
9:00
retirement such as law enforcement
9:02
officers or air traffic controllers
9:04
that's a basic overview of these
9:05
legislative proposals put forth by the
9:07
Senate at least the ones that are going
9:09
to be of interest to federal employees
9:11
there were others included but I didn't
9:13
get into them because again I'm just
9:15
focused on the federal workforce whether
9:18
or not they'll make it into the final
9:20
version of the bill and ultimately
9:21
become law I can't predict that
9:24
but we will continue to keep you updated
9:26
as changes occur and as new information
9:29
becomes available so be sure to check
9:31
the fedsmith.com website and also like
9:34
and subscribe to the channel for updates
9:36
have a good day
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