1 / 17

Lobbying on Sequestration

Lobbying on Sequestration. By: Danielle LeClair LIUNA Federal Employee Lobby Week Training March 19, 2013. Introduction. What is sequestration? How does sequestration affect federal workers? How to lobby on sequestration. 1. What is sequestration?.

amara
Download Presentation

Lobbying on Sequestration

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Lobbying on Sequestration By: Danielle LeClair LIUNA Federal Employee Lobby Week Training March 19, 2013

  2. Introduction • What is sequestration? • How does sequestration affect federal workers? • How to lobby on sequestration

  3. 1. What is sequestration? • History - Summer 2011 – Congress was about to hit the debt ceiling • Came to a deal • GOP would allow increase on debt ceiling in exchange for steep budget cuts next 10 years • Budget Control Act of 2011 passed

  4. What is the Budget Control Act (BCA)? • Compromise – Budget Control Act (BCA) was passed • Extended debt limit to 2013 (til May 19) • Nearly $1 trillion in immediate deficit reduction • Process for long-term balanced deficit reduction of $1.5 trillion in tax and entitlement reform • Enforcement mechanism that would compel painful spending cuts • Super Committee • Sequester

  5. Super Committee • Official Name: Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction • Members – 12 total • 6 House – 3 GOP, 3 Dem • 6 Senate – 3 GOP, 3 Dem • Purpose – to develop a deficit reduction plan of $1.5 trillion over 10 years (beyond the $900+ billion in cuts in the BCA) • Threat of DOD and non-DOD cuts was supposed to compel Super Committee to get a deal by December 23, 2011. • Sword of Damocles – was supposed to prevent sequestration • Defense – 50% - GOP priority (but not Tea Party) • Non-Defense – 50% - Dem priority • What Happened: November 21, Super Committee ended its work stating it could not reach a deal.

  6. Sequestration • Under the BCA, since the Super Committee did not reach a budget deal, sequestration would automatically kick in January 2013. • What is sequestration? • $1.2 trillion in budget cuts would happen automatically (known as sequestration). • Congress voted earlier this year to postpone sequestration until March 1, 2013, when it went into effect.

  7. Sequestration exemptions • Social Security • Medicaid • Veterans Benefits and pensions – and all VA employees • Payments to Federal retirement funds – FERS, CSRS, SAE • Civilian and military pay • Does not mean there can’t be an extended pay freeze • Does not mean feds can’t be furloughed (cut in pay) • Child nutrition • SSI • WIC

  8. 2. Sequestration – how does it affect federal workers? • Agencies have to find cost savings – between 5-10% of the Agency budget • Agencies can consider taking the following actions affecting workers to find cost savings: • Furloughs – agencies can choose to furlough workers up to 22 days for the rest of FY 13 • Eliminate bonuses • Travel • Conference spending • Hiring freezes

  9. Sequestration - furloughs • To meet the required cuts to their budgets, some Agencies have announced they will furlough federal workers • Maximum – 22 days (otherwise, RIFs are triggered)

  10. How are agencies handling furloughs? • Agencies furloughing include: • DOD – 22 days • USDA – 2 weeks • EPA – 13 days • DOL – 6 days • Agencies who have not announced whether they will furlough include: HHS. • Agencies not furloughing include: • VA – exempt by law • State, SBA, Smithsonian, NRC

  11. How do agencies decide whether to furlough? • Budgets – 22 day furloughs will only result in 10% of the savings that DOD needs to come up with • Are there other cost savings such as hiring freezes, scaling back contracts, etc? • Politics (White House Tours, Congressional door closures) • Exemptions (job classifications) – unclear – most Agencies don’t have this info yet

  12. Furloughs - bargaining • Unions have limited ability to bargain over furloughs • Impact and Implementation • How furloughs occur, not whether • i.e. can they be taken all at once to help employees vs. one day per pay period • Day care • Military training

  13. Bills relating to furloughs • H.R. 900 – Rep. Conyers (MI) – repeal sequestration • H.R. 950 – Rep. Farenthold (TX) - require the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to send a report to Congress indicating how amounts could be transferred within agencies and departments for fiscal year 2013 to avoid all furloughs or reductions in force • Keeps sequestration in place • H.R. 1014 – Rep. Palazzo (MS) – exempt National Guard technicians from furloughs

  14. Other Attacks on Federal Workers • 112th Congress (2011-2012) • 2 year pay freeze • Requires new hires to pay more for their pensions, creating a new category of pension - SAEs • 2013 - Continuing Resolution • House and Senate bills both extend the pay freeze through the end of FY 13 • Both continue sequestration • 2013 - Congressional Budget Resolution – House • Will require feds to pay “more” for their retirement plans to better align with the private sector (does not say how much more, but assumption is 2-5% more) • 10% workforce cut through attrition • $132 billion more in savings over 10 years • 2013 - Congressional Budget Resolution – Senate • Ends sequestration • Does not include House bad provisions for Federal workers

  15. Key upcoming dates • March 27 – CR expires • April 8 – President unveils his budget • May 18 – Debt ceiling reached (again)

  16. 3. Sequestration– What to Say to your Member of Congress • If you are being furloughed – how does this affect: • You – pay cut, morale • Your family – less money for the family – groceries, mortgage, etc • Your community – hurts small businesses when feds can’t pay for things like meals out, school clothes, etc • Even if you are not being furloughed, how are you affected by sequestration? • Morale/fear • No bonuses • Harder to do your job with less resources • Already living under a pay freeze for more than 2 years – extended under recent House and Senate CR • Feds make 22% less on average than private sector counterparts

  17. Meeting Review • Thank them for the meeting • Introduce LIUNA • Half a million members in the U.S. and Canada, including over 25,000 federal employees in 35 states • Introduce yourself and your group • My name is ___ and I work at ___ (agency) and I am a (nurse, mechanic, groundskeeper, etc). • Tell them how many Federal employees live in their state/Congressional district • Introduce and explain how sequestration affects you, your family, and your community • Ask for them to oppose furloughs

More Related