Norton Issues Statement on President's Freeze of Civilian Federal Employee Pay

November 30, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), member of the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and District of Columbia, today issued the following statement:

"It was inevitable that singling out federal employees for deficit contributions just days before release of the final report on the deficit commission, the day before White House meetings with Republicans who have called for draconian measures, and ahead of cuts in most federal spending to come in the President's budget, would open up a new point of controversy.  To his credit, the President has lead by example from the time he took office, freezing the salaries of his own top staff and political appointees and eliminating bonuses for all political appointees.  His FY 2011 budget had a record three-year freeze on all non-security discretionary programs that largely hit services for the middle class and the poor.  It was perhaps predictable, therefore, that the President would not leave the federal workforce untouched.  However, far from crediting the President's prior significant deficit reduction actions, Republicans voted against his deficit commission and then ran in 2010 as the godfathers of deficit reduction.  I hope that today's isolated announcement is not seen by Republicans as fuel for continuing to make the nation's indispensable, high quality federal employees the centerpiece of their attacks, regardless of the consequences for vital services and programs, as they did during the 2010 campaign. 

Regrettably, the Tea Party appears to be driving the most conservative Republicans to hyper levels of partisanship, even on matters of national security.  Politicizing everything from the START treaty to the extension of unemployment benefits for desperate Americans about to be without basic sustenance, robs Republicans of the creditability both sides will need if deficit reduction is to be successful.  The response to hyperbole making federal employees who serve the United States and its citizens special targets must be actions by the President and the Congress that leave no doubt that when sacrifice is necessary it must be shared and mutual."