In the late night hours of Sunday, May 18, 2025, the House Budget Committee voted by a margin of 17-16 to advance a bill that would give $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy on the backs of the working class. Just two days prior, the same committee voted by a margin of 21-16 against advancing this bill with some committee members doing so in an attempt to inflict deeper spending cuts. Remember that in order to pay for these massive tax cuts, many in Congress are looking to reduce government expenses, including our pensions.
After some changes were made over the weekend that affect postal and federal employee pensions, here are the direct attacks on the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) that remain in the bill:
- Replacing the High-3 FERS annuity calculation with a High-5 calculation, resulting in a reduction in annuity payments
- Eliminating the FERS Social Security supplement, which would deny workers who are eligible to retire the supplemental payments used to bridge the gap before their Social Security benefits begin at age 62
In the original version of the bill, there was a section to increase the mandatory FERS annuity contribution rate for all active employees to 4.4%, but this was eliminated from the current version. While it is good news that this section was removed, nothing is set in stone and our fight persists to protect current and future postal workers.
Thanks to the hard work of APWU members, as well as strong public outreach, many members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have now spoken out against cuts to our pensions. However, many senior leaders in Congress, and the White House, are actively working to pass this bill through the House of Representatives before Memorial Day.
There is still time to remove these FERS cuts. Because we don’t know what the final bill will include, now is the time to act! We encourage APWU members and supporters to call our Legislative Hotline at 844-402-1001 and urge your House representative to OPPOSE any cuts to federal and postal pensions!
