Spending Bill Markup Preserves Federal Worker Pay Raise, Cuts Other Benefits
While a 5.2 percent pay raise for federal employees appears safe for now, the markup of a subcommittee appropriations bill contains riders targeting telework and health benefits, cuts on planned staffing at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and other measures impacting federal workers.
The House Appropriations Committee’s Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee recently advanced its Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 appropriations bill—one of 12 such pieces of legislation covering different areas of government—to the full committee.
Overall, the bill cuts spending on financial agencies and government administration by 58 percent.
“Importantly, and I must remind everyone, just a few months ago, all federal agencies were operating on Fiscal Year 2022 levels. This is not an unreasonable approach; rather, it is a path that will secure the nation for years to come,” said Subcommittee Chairman Steve Womack (R-AR).
However, subcommittee Republicans preserved President Biden’s request for an average 5.2 percent pay raise for federal workers, which would be the largest federal worker pay raise since 1980, when federal workers received a raise of just over nine percent. The administration did not specify the breakdown between across-the-board increases and locality pay.
IRS, OPM in the Crosshairs
The bill takes aim at IRS staffing, rescinding money authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act to improve IRS staffing. It rejects the administration’s request for additional IRS funding.
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) funding would be kept at FY 2022 levels, a more than $49 million cut from current funding levels and a $134.7 million reduction from President Biden’s budget request.
Other riders that impact the federal workforce include directing agencies to roll back telework policies to pre-pandemic levels, placing new limits on how federal employees can use some of their non-salary benefits, and barring federal employees and retirees from investing in funds that advance environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing principles.
It also blocks funding for the implementation of President Biden’s executive order promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) at federal agencies, includes the Hyde Amendment to prevent federal funding from going toward abortion services, and introduces a provision that would bar the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program from covering gender affirming care for transgender employees.
Democrats said the budget misses the mark.
“The budgets and bills that we are considering now, we believe are substantially undermining some of the most important responsibilities this Congress has and this appropriations committee has and that is to make sure that our people are served in a way that gives them an opportunity to have a life that is sustainable and of some quality,” said the subcommittee’s ranking member, Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD).
Representative Hoyer said the bill is not a “real bill” and looks forward to discussing the legislation further in front of the full appropriations committee.
Federal Labor Groups React
Reaction also poured in from federal employee groups, including from Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).
“The common thread throughout this legislation is that federal employees are expendable and don’t deserve the resources and support they need to get the job done,” Reardon said. “NTEU will continue to fight for federal agencies to have the personnel, technology and resources necessary to meet the needs of the American people.”
The bill would still need to pass the full House and the Senate.