April 10, 2025

Today, Republicans in the House of Representatives approved the Senate-passed budget resolution by a vote of 216 to 214. Democrats all opposed the measure. 
 
Now that House and Senate Republicans have agreed on the budget resolution that gives specific committees “reconciliation instructions” that include a dollar amount in spending cuts or increases that each committee will need to satisfy, the various congressional committees will begin drafting their legislative proposals to meet those instructions. Of particular concern is the instruction to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to cut $50 billion in spending as the only area it has jurisdiction over with significant spending authority is federal employee pay and benefits. Some options they are considering to make these cuts include: 

• Cutting the pay of employees hired before 2014 by increasing their FERS contributions to 4.4%;
• Eliminating the FERS supplemental retirement payments;
• Reducing the FERS benefit by basing it on an employee’s highest average salary over five years instead of three;
• Increasing employee health care costs or reducing health care coverage by turning the FEHB Program into a voucher program;
• Making federal employees pay more for FERS in exchange for maintaining civil service rights; and
• Busting unions by requiring them to pay for the use of official time. 

Passage of these proposals only requires a simple majority vote in the House and Senate, so we need to make sure all our allies on both sides of the aisle push back against these draconian, anti-worker proposals and fight to protect your pay and benefits. Click here to urge your members of Congress to fight to protect federal employee benefits — and make sure to share this link with your colleagues, family and friends!
 
Doreen P. Greenwald
National President