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so uh the one big beautiful bill that's
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this massive reconciliation bill
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currently being debated in Congress it's
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currently working its way through
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Congress right now and it's currently
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being considered in the Senate and the
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latest news on this with respect to
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federal employees at least is that the
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Senate parliamentarian
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has struck a number of provisions out of
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the one big beautiful bill act
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um on the basis that they violate
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something called the bird rule and some
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of these provisions that have been
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um are among the proposed pay and
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benefits cuts to the federal workforce
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so that's the key part for for you all
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for federal employees and this was
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reported by the Senate budget committee
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recently in the last few days
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and again all of this is taking place
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just in the Senate where the bill is
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currently being debated because again
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remember it has already passed in the
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and here is a list of the provisions
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that were impacted when they were uh
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struck by the Senate parliamentarian for
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being in vi found to be in violation of
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the bird rule the atwill employment
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option this is the proposal in the
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Senate that would increase the FUR's
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contribution rate for newly hired
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federal employees by 10% that's 10 full
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percentage points for newly hired
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federal employees if they choose to keep
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civil service protections
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and the rate of increase would only be
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5% if they chose to become at will
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employees now if you become an atill
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employee again you lose your civil
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service protections meaning you can be
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fired pretty much for any reason at any
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the next provision is the MSPB filing
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fee this proposal would impose a $350
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fee for federal employees to file claims
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or appeals with the Merit Systems
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Protection Board and it would be
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refundable for successful claims the
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next provision is the bonuses for cost
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cutters this was the name of legislation
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that was proposed by Senator Ran Paul in
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the past a Republican from Kentucky he
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also happens to be the chairman of the
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Senate committee that uh made these
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proposals and it basically would have
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codified that legislation into law visav
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the the spending bill or the the
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reconciliation bill the one big
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beautiful bill and what it would do is
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it would pay bonuses to federal
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employees who report wasteful spending
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typically that you see happen around the
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end of a fiscal year when federal
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agencies spend more money
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um that's so that they can keep that
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same amount of money in their budget
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next year because if they it's the use
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it or lose it mentality as it's known
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the next provision that would be again
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be struck or was struck by the Senate
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parliamentarian parliamentarian excuse
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me is charging federal employee unions
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for the use of federal resources this is
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effectively bans the use of official
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time and federal resources by the unions
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because the unions would have to
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reimburse the government for uh the cost
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of these and the final one is the
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disposal of postal service electric
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uh this this legislative provision
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would would have rescended a billion
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dollars earmarked by the Biden
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administration under the inflation
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reduction act for the postal service to
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purchase electric vehicles and install
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related infrastructure and it also
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mandated selling any unused vehicles and
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infrastructure so what is the bird rule
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well here's kind of a quick summary of
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it it's named after the late Senator
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Robert Bird a Democrat from West
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Virginia and it's designed to keep
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reconciliation bills focused strictly on
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fiscal matters so for instance taxes
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spending or the debt limit and there are
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six tests used to to see if a provision
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um violates the bird rule and this is
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according to the Economic Policy
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if a a provision is subject to removal
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if it does not affect outlays revenues
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or terms of payment increases the budget
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deficit beyond the budget window
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typically 10 years falls outside the
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jurisdiction of the committee that
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submitted it has only an incidental
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budgetary impact compared to its policy
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goals proposes changes changes to social
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security or increases or decreases
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outlay or revenue when the committee
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doesn't follow its instructions
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so what does this mean for these
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legislative proposals that were struck
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that impact federal employees well if
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the Senate parliamentarian strikes a
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legislative proposal it it is quite
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difficult to override it according to
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60 senators have to vote to overrule the
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Senate parliamentarians action in
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striking a proposal however there are
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only 53 Republicans in the Senate so
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they don't have the votes as a practical
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matter um secondly a provision could be
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amended and resubmitted so that the
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parliamentarian would would then agree
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also the vice president could ignore the
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parliamentarian's rulings as presiding
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officer of the Senate or the
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parliamentarian could be removed now
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those last two items according to the
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Daily Signal are quote extremely
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unlikely but they are in the Republicans
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toolbox if they consider McDonald's
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that's the Senate Parliamentarian
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rulings do considerable damage to the
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main legislative vehicle for enacting
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Trump's agenda so the bottom line on all
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this is this is a significant blow to
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these specific legislative proposals but
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they are not completely off the table
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yet um we've seen throughout this
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process going all the way back to when
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the House originally proposed some of
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these cuts when this bill that this was
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back in April when this bill was first
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being assembled uh I said at the time
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don't panic there's a long way to go in
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this process a lot of these items are
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are likely to be changed or removed
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altogether we're seeing that happen now
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so while these proposals are not off the
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table yet again this is a significant
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setback we'll continue to provide you
6:44
with with updates as they become
6:46
available so be sure to subscribe to the
6:48
channel also visit the fedsmith.com
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website where we we post news articles
6:53
there with more updates and information
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have a good day everyone
