FY 2015 Ryan Budget Proposal Released -- Proposes Deep Cuts for Feds

04/02/2014

4/2/14: Yesterday, the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Paul Ryan (WI) released his version of a FY 2015 Budget.  As with previous budget proposals authored by Chairman Ryan, it again calls on the federal workforce to assume hugely disproportionate burdens.  The legislation calls for $125 billion in savings from the federal retirement system, including higher pension contributions (or the equivalent of pay cuts) for all federal employees which could amount to 5 to 6% of salary and the end of the FERS supplement, which substitutes for Social Security payments for employees eligible to retire before age 62.  While these two proposals have been included in Chairman Ryan’s proposals in the past, the FY 2015 proposal also calls for a TRANSITION TO A DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLAN, in other words, the end of any defined benefit annuity and a change to the 401(k) type TSP only plan.

The Ryan budget also proposes limiting federal hiring to one replacement for every three employees who leave, along with other unspecified cuts to federal pay and benefits.  And it proposes to eliminate repayment by the government of student loans for federal employees.   

The Ryan budget would cut $5.1 trillion in spending measured over the next 10 years and extend the Budget Control Act’s discretionary spending caps from 2021 through 2024.

NTEU National President Colleen Kelley called it an outrage that a budget proposal would seek to take millions of dollars from a federal workforce that already has contributed $138 billion to deficit reduction. "Federal employees have already given more than any other group in our country," Kelley said. “This budget piles even more burdens on the federal workforce. Employees are already juggling higher workloads with fewer resources and shrinking compensation," she said. "Congress needs to reject this budget, restore desperately-needed funding to federal agencies and stop the attacks on federal employees."

“Sequestration is a continuing disaster, and not just for federal agencies and their employees, but the public they serve,” Kelley also said. “Rather than extend it to 2024, as this proposal would do, we need to be moving forward to eliminate it and get back to the goal of providing the services Americans want and need."