WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Paul S. Sarbanes (both D-Md.) announced today that Congress will give final approval to the Transportation, Treasury, the Judiciary, and Housing and Urban Development 2006 spending bill. The legislation includes a major victory for federal employees by helping to level the playing field in their fight against unfair contracting out procedures, providing pay parity for all federal workers, including significant funding to consolidate the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at White Oak and requiring the IRS to complete a study detailing the impact of their proposed closures of Taxpayer Assistance Centers.

CONTRACTING OUT FEDERAL JOBS

Despite a veto threat by the White House, Senator Mikulski continued to fight throughout conference negotiations for this important victory for government employees. The bill includes provisions to help federal employees compete with government contractors and provides improved guidelines for a more fair competition process before jobs are contracted out. In May 2003, the Administration issued new guidelines for these public-private competitions (OMB Circular A-76). These new procedures favored contractors and stacked the deck against federal employees. Under these new provisions, federal employees are permitted to submit their own best bids and contractors are required to demonstrate a savings of at least 10 percent or $10 million.

“This language is the first step in leveling the playing field for federal employees and the first year federal employees have made real progress against unfair contracting out,” said Senator Mikulski. “Our federal employees are on the front lines every day, working hard for America. These hardworking men and women deserve to be treated fairly and, at the very least, deserve to have the same rights that contractors do. I will keep fighting to fix the competition process that is shamefully slanted in favor of private contractors.”

“Too often federal jobs are contracted out without proper public-private competition and without continued monitoring of whether cost savings result from the competition,” said Senator Sarbanes. “Civilian federal employees are making remarkable contributions to our country. We should not be privatizing government work without giving federal employees a fair chance to defend their jobs, nor should we show a preference to contract employees over our dedicated public workforce.”

Last year, Senator Mikulski successfully offered an amendment in the Appropriations subcommittee to overturn the revised guidelines. However, for the second year in a row, the White House bullied Congressional Republicans into removing language that would have helped to level the playing field for federal employees who are competing for their own jobs. Even though both versions of the Appropriations bill included the Mikulski/Van Hollen amendment to overturn the 2003 revision of OMB Circular A-76, the final version did not include this language. However, this year Senator Mikulski crafted a compromise in which some of the desired language was included in the base of the original bill – a huge victory in protecting federal employees from unfair contracting out procedures.

PAY PARITY

This bill includes a 3.1 percent cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for all federal employees, including wage grade employees, civilian employees at the Department of Defense and all employees at the Department of Homeland Security. This is the same pay raise that is budgeted for military personnel.

“Military personnel and federal civilian employees – both white collar and blue collar – work for the same employers, often side-by-side in defense of our nation’s homeland security,” said Senator Mikulski. “They all earn and deserve the same COLA.”

“The inclusion of the pay parity provision in this appropriations bill recognizes that both members of the uniformed services and civilian federal employees are fighting the war on terrorism and making remarkable contributions to the safety of this country and its citizens,” added Senator Sarbanes, who has spearheaded efforts in the Senate Budget Committee to include pay parity provisions since the Bush Administration has failed to acknowledge the significant contributions of Federal civilian employees in our workplace.

FDA AT WHITE OAK

The legislation also includes $127.6 million to continue the consolidation of the FDA at White Oak, the 130-acre site of the former White Oak Naval Surface Warfare Center in Montgomery County. The FDA has been trying to consolidate offices for nearly 20 years. Since the 1995 Base Closure and Realignment Act closed White Oak, Senators Mikulski and Sarbanes have worked vigorously in the Senate and the community to consolidate the FDA facilities.

“This money will help transform a closed naval base into a world-class federal research facility,” said Senator Mikulski. “Now more than ever, the American people are relying on the FDA to ensure the safety of our food supply and continued access to the most up-to-date prescription drugs and treatments. This project has been a top priority for the community and a top priority for me because it means economic development for Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and jobs for the people of Maryland.”

“I am pleased that we continue to move forward with the needed funding to complete the consolidation of the antiquated Food and Drug Administration’s labs and facilities at the White Oak campus,” said Senator Sarbanes. “This consolidation, when completed, will create a unique research campus which will have a major spillover effect with private bioscience, bio-tech, and hi-tech companies, as well as the educational institutions in our region.”

IRS TAX ASSISTANCE CENTERS

The 2006 bill also marks a major victory in the campaign against closing 68 IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) nationwide, including four in Maryland. The provision in the bill stipulates that none of these centers can be shut down until the Treasury Inspector General completes a study detailing the impact that these closures would have on employees and clients. The walk-in tax centers provide necessary advice and assistance to hundreds of taxpayers, particularly immigrants with language barriers, that prevent them from using the IRS online and phone assistance programs. President Bush’s proposed budget drastically reduced the funding available for TACs and would have required closing four of the eight centers in Maryland. Under these cuts, federal employees would lose their jobs and many taxpayers would have lost the services they rely on to finish their taxes accurately and on time.

In the next step of the appropriations process, the Conference report will move back to the House and Senate floors for final votes. Once passed by the House and Senate, the bill will go to the President for his signature.

Senator Mikulski is a member of the Appropriations Committee and the Transportation, Treasury, the Judiciary, and Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee. Senator Sarbanes is the senior Democrat on the Banking Committee.

249058