Taxpayers Get Bang for Their Buck with Medicare, Social Security

 

08/26/2012; Tula Connell

Taxpayers Get Bang for Their Buck with Medicare, Social Security If Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan were really interested in maximizing taxpayer money to get the most bang for the buck, they would not push to cut Social Security and Medicare. (And, in the case of Medicare, the Romney/Ryan plan would raise health care costs for seniors on average by $11,000, with today’s 54-year old paying $59,500 in increased Medicare costs.

Rather than cutting Social Security and Medicare, they should strengthen both programs.

Here’s why. Continue reading “Taxpayers Get Bang for Their Buck with Medicare, Social Security”

Charlie Bass, ‘Stop Trashing the Middle Class’

Charlie Bass, ‘Stop Trashing the Middle Class’.

New Hampshire Labor News sends us this. 

Charlie Bass's Trash

What’s in New Hampshire Rep. Charlie Bass’s (R) “trash?”

Social Security, Medicare, and affordable education as it turns out. The contents of the New Hampshire congressman’s “garbage can” came to light yesterday in Concord as young workers and seniors from the Granite State questioned his commitment to his constituents after he voted for Paul Ryan’s extreme budget. Said Terri Lochhead, an organizer for the Alliance for Retired Americans:

I’m not sure who Charlie Bass works for anymore. He is so out of touch with what the average American needs that he’ll trash anything just to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires like him. Continue reading “Charlie Bass, ‘Stop Trashing the Middle Class’”

Bill would ban feds from conducting union activities at work

Bill would ban feds from conducting union activities at work

Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga.
Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga. Flickr user republicanconference

Government unions can expect to see the revival of legislation aimed at their rights to conduct union business.

Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., plans to reintroduce the 2011 Federal Employee Accountability Act in the 113th Congress, spokeswoman Jen Talaber said. The bill would repeal two sections of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act that allow federal employees to work official hours to perform union functions. Under U.S. Code, “official time” is defined as collective bargaining, arbitration and any other matter deemed necessary for official time by management and union representatives.

Gingrey introduced the legislation first in 2009 and again in 2011, when it was referred to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. It’s not due for a vote before the end of this session, but Talaber said the bill will come up again. Continue reading “Bill would ban feds from conducting union activities at work”

A ‘Measly’ Pay Raise Is the Least of Feds’ Worries

A ‘Measly’ Pay Raise Is the Least of Feds’ Worries

Most of you have heard the news by now that President Obama will extend the current federal pay freeze until Congress passes a budget for the next fiscal year. If you’re not aware of this latest twist in the federal pay drama, then I envy you, because it means you are probably lying on a beach somewhere enjoying the last remnants of summer.

To briefly recap, the president announced Tuesday evening that he is using his authority under the law to give federal employees a 0.5 percent pay boost in 2013. But the across-the-board salary increase is contingent upon Congress accomplishing what it is apparently incapable of these days: agreeing on a long-term spending plan to fund the government. Lawmakers are on track to pass a six-month continuing resolution when they return from recess, which means that feds will have to wait until at least April for a pay increase. Of course, government workers might have to wait longer than that if lawmakers push through another stopgap spending measure after the first one expires. Continue reading “A ‘Measly’ Pay Raise Is the Least of Feds’ Worries”

New AFGE president suggests retroactive pay raise for feds

New AFGE president suggests retroactive pay raise for feds

American Federation of Government Employees president J. David Cox
American Federation of Government Employees president J. David Cox AFGE photo

The newly elected president of the American Federation of Government Employees will lobby President Obama to support a pay raise for federal employees retroactive to January 2013 if it is approved in the final fiscal 2013 budget, according a Federal Times report.

Obama announced earlier this week that he would use his authority to grant federal employees the across-the-board 0.5 percent pay raise he had proposed for 2013, but only after Congress passes a budget. Lawmakers anticipate passing a six-month continuing resolution when they return from the August recess, meaning the earliest the pay raise could take effect would be April 2013. Continue reading “New AFGE president suggests retroactive pay raise for feds”

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