House Majority Leader Speaks at NTEU Legislative Conference

For Immediate Release Contact: Dina Long
February 27, 2007 (202) 572-5500

House Majority Leader Sees Federal Employee Issues As Vital to America
Washington, D.C.—A senior leader in the U.S. House today promised to work for a fair pay
raise for federal employees and in support of their efforts to rein in runaway contracting—not just because that supports federal workers, but because it is good for America.
“The focus of the federal workforce is on service to the America people,” House Majority
Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told the opening session of the annual legislative conference of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).Therefore, he said, federal employees are, in meaningful ways, the essence of our country.
“America is blessed by your service and commitment,” he told the more than 300 NTEU
members gathered from around the country for the start of the three-day event. That means, he said, that “the government needs to keep faith with those who have made this commitment to their country.”
In practical terms, the Majority Leader said he and the rest of the congressional leadership “will
take a good look” at the White House’s proposal for a 3 percent federal civilian and military pay raise in 2008. That comes after a 2.2 percent pay raise in 2007, the lowest in some 20 years.
As a long-time advocate of comparability between public and private sector pay, Rep. Hoyer
cautioned that “if the federal government can’t compete with the private sector for the best and
brightest employees, then (the United States) can’t compete with the rest of the world.”
On the matter of contracting out, Rep. Hoyer warned that the loss of federal jobs to the private
sector leads to the loss of extensive expertise now available in federal agencies. “We are contracting out services that are critical,” he said, “and we don’t have the expertise inside (agencies) to tell if we’re getting what we want and need from contractors.”
The Majority Leader said that, at a minimum, Congress needs to “make sure that federal
employees have the right to compete for their jobs on a fair and even basis.” He also questioned claims of extensive dollar savings from contracting federal work. “The savings are over a very short term, two or three years,” he said. After that, he added, “costs escalate, very rapidly.”
NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley has been the most visible and vocal opponent of the
administration’s strong efforts to privatize federal work.
Over the next two days, the NTEU members will be meeting with their elected representatives
on a number of important issues. Along with the need for a fair pay raise in 2008 and the contracting out issue, these matters include:
• The need to make federal health care more affordable—including approval of a
long-time proposal by Rep. Hoyer to raise the government’s share of premiums
from an average of 72 percent to an average of 80 percent;
• Department of Homeland Security issues, including the need for law
enforcement officer status, and personnel and staffing issues;
• The need to repeal or modify two provisions of law that unfairly impact federal
retiree pension benefits;
• The importance of a return to labor-management partnership and away from the
more adversarial relationship that agencies have fostered in recent years.
NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 30
agencies and departments.