Federal employee retirement benefits would be cut under Trump's budget

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

Politics
Federal employee retirement benefits would be cut under Trump's budget

By Eric Yoder
Feb. 10, 2020 at 1:46 p.m. EST

President Trump has again proposed reducing the value of federal retirement benefits while requiring most federal employees to pay more toward those benefits. ... In some cases, the benefits would be reduced only for future retirees, but in other cases, those already retired would face a cut, as well.

The proposals, outlined in Trump's budget released Monday, would require changes in law. They are likely to face opposition from Democrats in Congress and federal employee organizations that have thwarted them in prior years. ... The budget also proposes a 1 percent pay increase for federal employees while recommending 3 percent for military personnel.

Trump had recommended pay freezes in his prior two budgets, though he ultimately agreed to an average 1.9 percent raise for 2019 and an average 3.1 percent raise for 2020, with some variation by locality. In 2017, he had recommended a 1.9 percent average raise for 2018, which Congress accepted.

{snip}

A final proposal would reduce the interest rate paid in the Government Securities G Fund of the Thrift Savings Plan, the 401(k)-style retirement savings program for federal employees. That fund consists of special Treasury Department securities that in recent years have paid about a 2 percent interest rate. ... The proposal would reduce that rate to a small fraction of 1 percent, reducing the return to investors by a projected $10.5 billion over 10 years.

“We oppose a change to the G Fund interest rate as it would make the G Fund inadequate and ineffective for TSP investors and would meaningfully impact the retirement savings of millions of Thrift Savings Plan participants,” TSP spokeswoman Kim Weaver said in an email. ... Of the $633 billion in the TSP as of year-end 2019, about 40 percent was in the G Fund. That fund is especially popular among retirees and those close to retirement because of its stability.

Eric Yoder is a National reporter at The Washington Post. He has reported for The Post since 2000, concentrating on federal employee issues, the budget and government management policies. Follow https://twitter.com/EricYoderWP

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-employee-retirement-benefits-would-be-cut-under-trumps-budget/2020/02/10/879ec19e-4c2d-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html

[Roy Rolling]

1. He's a fucking moron

His budgets aren’t any smarter.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

2. I knew this would be coming.

[rzemanfl]

3. I wonder how many eligible people will retire so they aren't "future" retirees?

Standard Republican tactic.

[iluvtennis]

4. 1% raise for fed employees and 3% for military. Where is the 47% raise he claimed his policies

has produced for the lower half of the working class.

What a fkn lying moron.

[LonePirate]

5. He was already on track for super low support from federal workers. He's now aiming for 0% from them

[Drahthaardogs]

16. I worked for DoD, you would be stunned how many feds

Vote for this moron. Most that I knew have a military pension and TriCare though, so his policies don't affect them as much.

[Lulu KC]

6. Look out

Actually, this might be good news. This will mobilize a LOT of people. But again, what a ratbastard!!!!

[Wellstone ruled]

7. For all of us whom

matriculated from Rural or economically depressed areas of this Nation,we have or had heard all those dog whistles about over paid under worked State County and Federal Workers and their so called lavish Retirements. Yes that message was hammered into everyone's head by your local and state Republican office holder as well as their Party message machine since Nixon.

This is the number one mechanism used to garner votes from the Farm Community as well as the under paid workers in Rural America. When a friggin Casino is the new Employer in Rural America,that tells you a story about how a local area is so desperate to be reliant on Social Ills Creator for a loaf of bread.

Nuf said,been down that road and saw the after mess.

[PatrickforO]

9. That's why we still need unions, my friend. And, by the way,

Wellstone DID rule. Until he died in that plane crash, probably because he spoke too much truth to power.

Not putting on the ol' tin-foil hat, you understand...but it was a mysterious crash...

[Wellstone ruled]

14. Local Firefighters and EMT''s were told to stand down

until the FBI office in Duluth responded.

[PatrickforO]

10. Oh, by the way, did you see that Wellstone's sons got ousted from the Wellstone

Action group in 2018 because they questioned some expenditures. Apparently, according to the powers that be in MN, "a lot has changed in fifteen years..."

So there you have it. More battle between progressives and centrists in the party. Here's a link to the Politico article:

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/13/wellstone-family-legacy-feud-minnesota-democrats-584205

[Wellstone ruled]

13. Thanks,was aware of this happening.

One is a person friend our oldest son.

[jeffreyi]

12. Hear, hear.

And yes, the unions have been our friend, multiple times over the years.

[PatrickforO]

8. Of COURSE they would! Give the billionaire parasites a nice juicy tax cut,

and make up for it with the pensions of honest workers.

These Trump people are slime.

[MRDAWG]

11. Got to pay for those tax cuts!

!

[AnnieBW]

15. GODDAMMIT!!!

I'm eligible to retire at the end of November. Now he wants to fuck that up, too!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. Take from middle class to pay for tax giveaway to 1%. That's $10 THOUSAND per taxpayer

$2 Trillion is a lot of money.

$2,000,000,000,000

That's about $10,000 per each 200 million taxpayers.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

18. Message to the Congress on the 2021 Alternative Plan for Pay Adjustments; February 10, 2020

STATEMENTS & RELEASES

Message to the Congress on the 2021 Alternative Plan for Pay Adjustments
BUDGET & SPENDING

Issued on: February 10, 2020

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

I am transmitting an alternative plan for pay adjustments for civilian Federal employees covered by the General Schedule and certain other pay systems in January 2021.

Title 5, United States Code, authorizes me to implement alternative plans for pay adjustments for civilian Federal employees covered by the General Schedule and certain other pay systems if, because of “national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare,” I view the increases that would otherwise take effect as inappropriate.

Under current law, locality pay increases averaging 20.67 percent, costing $21 billion in the first year alone, would go into effect in January 2021, in addition to a 2.5 percent across-the-board increase for the base General Schedule.

We must maintain efforts to put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course; Federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases. Accordingly, I have determined that it is appropriate to exercise my authority to set alternative pay adjustments for 2021 pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 5303(b) and 5 U.S.C. 5304a.

Specifically, I have determined that for 2021 the across-the-board base pay increase will be limited to 1.0 percent and locality pay percentages will remain at their 2020 levels. This alternative pay plan decision will not materially affect our ability to attract and retain a well‑qualified Federal workforce.

As noted in my Budget for Fiscal Year 2021, our pay system must reform to align with mission-critical recruitment and retention goals, and to reward employees whose performance provides value for the American people. For this purpose, my Budget further directs agencies to increase awards spending in FY 2021 by an amount equal to no less than 1 percent of total salary spending. My Administration will continue to support reforms that advance these aims.

The adjustment described above shall take effect on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after January 1, 2021.

[maxrandb]

19. And I can't count the number of my former fellow civil servants

That gleefully supported this asspickle and the asshatted Retrumplican Party