6/4/12:  Late last week, NTEU National President Colleen Kelley sent this letter to President Obama urging opposition to a proposal to use federal employee pension contribution increases to offset student loan interest rate reductions.  The proposal came in the form of a letter from House Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Whip, John Kyl to the President.

In her letter, Kelley pointed out that federal employees have already contributed $60 billion to deficit reduction through a two year pay freeze and another $15 billion through increased pension contributions for new hires.  She also included the long list of proposals that have been made that use federal compensation cuts as offsets for other spending.        

In addition, she sent copies of the letter to all members of the House and Senate.