After much debate, legislation to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending passed through Congress Tuesday and was signed by President Barack Obama right away.
The legislation contains no measures targeting federal employees. However, Government Executive reports groups representing federal employees know pay and benefits will be targeted soon.
The legislation places a series of caps on discretionary spending between 2012 and 2021. Federal pay and benefits were not affected, but agencies will have smaller budgets as a result of the spending caps. The spending caps could affect hiring, training and other recruitment and retention incentives.
“This could mean cutting tens of thousands of federal jobs like Social Security claims representatives, doctors and nurses at VA hospitals, Border Patrol agents and EPA scientists,” said John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees.http://www.executivegov.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=21876&action=edit
According to Government Executive, Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Elmendorf said policymakers should consider scaling back federal workers’ retirement benefits to help reduce the deficit over the long term.
