American Federation of Government Employees Local 704
Working to Protect America's Environment and Labor's Environment in Government!
A cross-party Congressional budget committee convened after an October government shutdown has reached an agreement to fund federal services.
The proposed deal finances the government for two years and reduces the federal deficit by $23bn (£14bn).
It also avoids another government shutdown on 15 January when government funding is scheduled to run out. Continue reading “US Congress cross-party budget deal reached”
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 10, 2013 11:10 AM |
CONTACT: National Priorities Project NPP Communications Officer Derrick Crowe, 512.516.5067 |
WASHINGTON – December 10 – With less than a week remaining before the budget conference committee’s Dec. 13 deadline, reports indicate that negotiators have not yet agreed on a federal spending plan for 2014. Though there is some optimism that a fairly small deal could be reached before Friday, nothing concrete has been released from the closed-door negotiations between House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and Senate Budget Committee Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash. National Priorities Project (NPP) issued a statement Tuesday calling out Congress for not acting more quickly develop a budget blueprint that reflects the priorities of the American people.
“Americans have a clear, shared understanding of what the federal budget should look like: we want Congress to protect Social Security and Medicare benefits, reduce waste in the military budget, protect education and safety net programs, close corporate tax loopholes and control health care costs. It’s unconscionable that Congress is up against yet another deadline, and has yet to deliver on one of their most basic obligations to the American people. The budget committee should look to our nation’s shared priorities as its guiding star for a 2014 spending and revenue plan, and get a budget passed in time to avoid another government shutdown,” NPP Executive Director Jo Comerford said. Continue reading “Time Is Running Out for the Budget Conference Committee”
Requiring federal employees to pay more toward their retirement benefits would have an uncertain effect on recruitment of new workers but likely would spur some current employees to leave earlier than they would have otherwise, according to a recent analysis done for Congress.
Increasing the required contributions, and the potential impact of doing so, has been under consideration in negotiations over budget levels for the remainder of the current government fiscal year and for fiscal 2015.
(Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters) Continue reading “Impact of budgetary hit to federal retirement weighed”
“I strongly support the goal of a compromise on the budget that allows Congress to repeal or replace the across-the-board, nonsensical cuts due to sequestration. But I strongly believe we can achieve this goal without targeting federal employees who have already been impacted by multiple deficit reduction efforts in the past.”
Sen. Tim Kaine. Read more of his letter to Sen. Murray and Rep. Ryan here: http://bit.ly/1f2ieHr
We never would have ended the government lockout without thousands of federal workers taking to the streets and demanding the return to work. We need you to stand up once again and tell our politicians that enough is enough.
AFGE members saturated the airwaves during the lockout, doing more than 450 interviews in a matter of weeks. We need to get our stories to the press and win the support of our communities. Here’s how:
There is more than just federal pay, retirement, and jobs on the line in these budget talks. Cuts to vital services like social security, military readiness, and border security are all on the table. Learn more about the latest proposals here:
American Federation of Government Employees Local 704 