Lieberman Supports Equal Pay Raises for Civilian and Military Workers

Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, laid out his budget priorities in a long letter Tuesday to the Senate Budget Committee. The last item on the list (not sure if they were listed in order of priority) was pay parity between the civilian and uniformed workforce. The bottom line is Lieberman supports equal pay raise rates for both groups and will work to make it happen.

Below is the section of the letter on the pay increase.

"For uniformed personnel, the Administration’s FY 2010 Budget includes funding for a 2.9% pay increase, an amount that the Budget summary says will improve their purchasing power. The men and women in our armed forces, who risk their lives for us to defend our nation every day, deserve our gratitude and support, and I fully support this proposal.

I believe that we must equally support our federal civilian employees, who also work tirelessly to secure our homeland and our way of life. Some civilian employees work side-by-side with military personnel, both in battle areas and at training and support locations. Others protect our borders and perform other essential jobs securing our homeland, protecting our health, safety, and environment, addressing the challenges to our financial security, and proudly serving the public in countless other ways. Adequate civilian pay is essential not only for fairness, but also for effective human capital management. An insufficient pay raise would undermine morale at a time when the government faces critical needs to recruit and retain the highly skilled workforce needed to meet essential responsibilities.

However, for civilian employees the Budget provides for a 2.0% pay increase, significantly below the 2.9% for uniformed personnel, explaining that the civilian pay increase is limited in response to the current economic climate. I find this disparity between the level of support for our civilian and military personnel to be disappointing. Accordingly, I plan to work with my colleagues in the Congress and with members of the Obama Administration to see whether we can find our way clear to provide a pay increase for federal employees on a par with that for military personnel – fair compensation that they both deserve because they have earned it by loyal service to our country during these challenging times."

By Sara Goo  |  March 19, 2009; 11:41 AM ET  | Category:  Budget , Pay
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Posted by: FairlingtonBlade | March 19, 2009 11:24 PM | Report abuse

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