WASHINGTON (AP) — The
House on Wednesday voted to freeze the wages of federal workers for a
third straight year and put members of Congress on record as opposing a
boost in their $174,000 annual salaries.
Republican supporters
said their measure, which would freeze federal worker wages through
2013, would save taxpayers $26 billion. It would not apply to military personnel.
The
nation's 2.3 million federal civilian workers currently are in the
second year of a wage freeze imposed as part of efforts to trim budget
deficits. Sponsors said the two-year halt in wage increases will save
the government $60 billion.
"We must act now to extend the pay
freeze on federal workers and on members' salaries until Washington
finally gets its finances under control," said Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis.,
the bill's sponsor.
Republicans also have sought to add a year to
the federal wage freeze and have federal workers contribute more toward
pensions as ways to pay for legislation, now being negotiated between
the House and Senate, to extend a payroll tax cut and federal
unemployment benefits until the end of this year.
The pay freeze
legislation could have difficulty moving through the
Democratic-controlled Senate. In the House, most Democrats opposed the
measure, saying deficit reduction should not be carried out on the backs
of federal workers. Federal labor groups have strongly opposed an
extended freeze.
Still, it was a tough election-year vote for some
Democrats reluctant to be seen as supporting a raise for themselves.
The salary of rank-and-file members of Congress has remained at $174,000
since 2009 and is unlikely to go up as long as the economy sputters.
"What
we have here is a very clever political effort to have members vote
either for their pay or against their pay being adjusted," said Rep.
Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the second-ranking Democrat.
Democrats
tried to bring up a separate bill that would have stated opposition to a
congressional pay hike, but they were stopped by Republicans. The vote
on the pay freeze bill was 309-117, with 72 out of 187 voting Democrats
supporting it. Only two Republicans opposed it.
President Barack Obama has proposed ending the pay freeze in 2013, but with a modest 0.5 percent raise.
But
Republicans pointed to a Congressional Budget Office report earlier
this week that concluded that federal workers, on average, receive total
compensation that is 16 percent higher than what their counterparts in
the private sector get.
The study found that while federal workers
earn about 2 percent more than comparable private sector workers,
generous federal pension and other benefit programs boost that
difference to 16 percent.
"Those who work hardest to pay taxes are
the ones bearing the burden of a bloated federal government," said Rep.
Dennis Ross of Florida, like Duffy a Republican freshman. "The contrast
between federal government and private sector is troubling."
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said there are now 450,000 federal employees earning at least $100,000 a year.
But
Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union,
said more accurate Bureau of Labor Statistics data dispute the CBO
findings. "An enormous amount of time and energy is going into studies
purporting to show that federal workers are overpaid," said the head of
the largest independent federal union. "It is just a foolish drive for
the lowest common denominators."
The House also passed, by voice
vote, a resolution that would cut House committee budgets by an average
of 6 percent in 2012. That reduction, combined with a 5 percent cut last
year, would produce savings of $28 million.
The House also voted
395-27 for a bill that would ban use of welfare money in gambling
casinos, liquor stores and adult entertainment places such as strip
clubs. The House passed a similar provision in December, but it never
made it through the Senate.
Many states issue welfare recipients
Electronic Benefits Transfer cards with cash benefits. The cards are
supposed to assist families with basic needs, including food, shelter
and clothing. The cards also provide a way of tracking where benefits
are withdrawn, and that's how states discovered the withdrawals at
casinos, liquor stores and strip clubs.
The legislation would
require states to implement policies to prohibit use of the card in
these venues. If a state failed to do that within two years, it would
face a 5 percent reduction in its welfare block grant.
___
Associated Press writer Larry Margasak contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.