Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Rep. Mike Coffman: “Furlough all nonessential federal workers”

Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., has a long overdue message from America's taxpayers to Washington politicians and bureaucrats: It's time for you to share our pain. Coffman proposes to furlough all nonessential federal workers for two weeks next year. That's a radical proposal only in the nation's capital. Twenty-four states are presently furloughing public sector workers in response to budget problems. The Coffman bill also cuts the $174,000 salaries of senators and representatives by 10 percent. A mere $5.5 billion in savings would result if Hoffman's measure is approved, but that's not the point. As Heritage Foundation analyst Jason Richwine said during a panel discussion Tuesday on civil service overcompensation, the debate over federal salaries is really "a matter of government legitimacy." Are these people America's civil servants or our masters?

For nearly two years, millions of private-sector workers have made often painful sacrifices because of failed federal economic policies and skyrocketing federal spending and debt. But the opposite has been true for federal workers. Starting in 2008, federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14 percent to 19 percent of the total civil service work force of 2.0 million.   More -

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