2/22/11: Early Saturday morning the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1, the Continuing Resolution (CR) for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2011 that would reduce federal spending to agencies by approximately $61.5 billion below the FY 2010 levels and $96.6 billion beneath the President’s request for FY 2011. The measure passed in a vote of 235-189. NTEU opposed the measure and will work with the Senate to defeat it. The current CR expires on March 4, and unless the CR is enacted to fund federal agencies or another stopgap CR is passed while the House and Senate are negotiating, a government shutdown is a possibility. 

NTEU opposed these dramatic cuts to federal agencies and fought against many of the 600 amendments that reduced federal employees’ abilities to do their jobs. The bill cuts the SEC's budget by $25 million for the remainder of FY 2011. It cuts the IRS’s budget by more than $600 million. The Social Security Administration (SSA) receives $10.7 billion, a $1.1 billion cut from the SSA’s $11.8 billion administrative budget in 2010.  The proposed cuts could both delay insurance payments to disabled Americans and cost the system money by furloughing NTEU members who halt improper payments. The FDA would receive a cut of $400 million less than the President’s FY11 budget and $242 million below the FY10 appropriation, jeopardizing its important work in ensuring the safety of our food supply. And under the measure, DHS receives $345 million below the FY 2010 enacted level and $2.1 billion less than requested by the White House for fiscal 2011, with reductions in staffing, infrastructure, and technology resources for border security.

Importantly, NTEU was able to beat back an amendment which would have prevented funds from being used for merit step increases for federal employees. This onerous amendment failed in a vote of 191-230. 

There were, however, a number of other harmful amendments approved that essentially bar federal employees from doing their jobs. NTEU is continuing to examine the impact of these amendments, but they include nine amendments to bar federal employees, including those at the IRS and HHS, from implementing the health insurance reform legislation that has already been enacted into law. As we pointed out in our communications to Congress, federal employees do not make the laws, and barring them from being paid from carrying out the laws, makes no sense.

We will continue to fight on behalf of federal employees and work within the Senate to reject cuts of this magnitude to the federal budget. Federal employees should not be singled out for deficit reduction, and the federal workforce must be recognized for the important contributions it makes to the health of our nation.