DAILY NEWS BRIEF: Tuesday, February 1, 2012
House to vote today on extending pay freeze
The House is scheduled to vote today on H.R. 3835, the bill to extend the pay freeze for another year, for both federal employees and members of Congress. The House will vote on the bill using a suspension vote, requiring a two-thirds majority to pass. This vote has significant political implications for House Republicans, who want to see the pay freeze as well as other federal employee provision language from H.R. 3630 included as “pay fors” in the conference committee's final legislative package to extend the payroll tax holiday for a full year.
Read more at Federal News Radio
Minority Whip calls pay freeze plan unfair
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer(D-MD) on Tuesday argued the GOP’s plan to freeze federal pay is unjustified and won’t help the economy. Being a Maryland Democrat whose district is home to tens of thousands of federal employees, Hoyer feels the Republican proposal is designed only to score political points in an election year. He also claims that Republicans continue to avoid suggestions that the wealthiest in America pay their fair share and the proposal would disadvantage federal workers versus other works.
Read more at The Hill
Hearing scheduled to address annuity payment timeliness
The Senate subcommittee on Homeland Security and Government Management is holding a hearing this afternoon titled “Federal Retirement Processing: Ensuring Proper and Timely Payments.” The focus of the hearing is on the struggles the Office of Personnel Management faces in getting annuitants their payments on time. However, in light of last week’s hearing in the House and the recent release of the CBO study, the matter of retirement benefits in the federal sector versus the private sector is likely to be discussed.
Read more at Washington Post
Get more information at the committee website