Washington, D.C. (May 14, 2025)— Today, Rep. Stephen F. Lynch and Rep. Steny Hoyer, the Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, hosted a roundtable with major federal employee groups and civil service organizations to coordinate action against the Republican Budget’s House Oversight Reconciliation provisions that steal earned wages, benefits, and retirement security from federal workers to subsidize tax giveaways to billionaires. Republicans’ budget includes provisions to steal earned retirement benefits, decrease the take home pay of existing and new federal employees, claw back already-promised retirement payments, and force new federal employees to choose between being subject to President Trump’s political purges of the federal workforce or receiving a smaller paycheck for their entire career.
The roundtable follows a full Committee markup of the Reconciliation bill in which Oversight Committee Democrats offered twenty-five amendments that would add commonsense safeguards to the bill. All Democratic amendments were rejected by Committee Republicans.
“The Trump Administration’s unprecedented assault on our civil service is creating a breakdown across federal agencies that Americans will feel for years to come. Unfortunately, the Republicans’ reconciliation print is an effective greenlight for the Administration to continue to attack the federal workforce—it will reduce the pay of federal workers; it will break promises on entitled retirement benefits; it will deter current and federal employees from seeking justice against wrongful employment actions; and it will provide a back-door Schedule P/C, formerly known as Schedule F, to purge the federal workforce in Trump’s favor,” said Rep. Lynch. “Oversight Democrats are ready to solve the nation’s greatest crises, but we cannot in good conscience do that by sacrificing the well-being of federal employees and the quality of the federal civilian workforce. That’s why we must continue to stand up against Oversight Republicans’ reconciliation proposals.”
“Republicans’ House Oversight Reconciliation provisions are the latest salvo in Donald Trump’s effort to demean, vilify, and traumatize our federal workers,” said Ranking Member Hoyer. “These are patriotic professionals who serve the American people every single day. Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Russell Vought, and DOGE’s illegal purge of our federal workers was never about improving efficiency and reducing waste – something every American supports. Their assault on the civil service is about consolidating their own power and dismantling vital services for Americans across the country. Whether it’s on Capitol Hill, in the courts, or on the picket line, I will keep working with Democrats to fight against the actions of this administration and fight for our federal workers.”
Participants in the roundtable included representatives from: AFL-CIO; American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE); American Postal Workers Union (APWU); Democracy Forward; FAA Managers Association (FAAMA); International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF); International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE); National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE); National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM); National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU); National Association of Letter Carrier (NALC); National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU); National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA); Senior Executives Association, Professional Managers Association, and National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys; Service Employees International Union (SEIU); and Federal Managers Association (FMA).
“Today’s hearing made it unmistakably clear that punitive cuts to federal employee benefits aren’t about saving money. They are about making life miserable for Americans serving in the federal government and driving experienced and dedicated employees away from federal service — harming every state, district, community, family, business, and individual who depend on the services these workers provide. AFGE urges Members on both sides of the aisle to take notice of today’s discussion and reject the package of proposed changes to FERS that will reduce the take home pay of most federal workers and sharply reduce their expected retirement benefit,” said Dr. Everett B. Kelley, National President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).
“The physical demands of firefighting add up over the years, leaving many fire fighters sick or injured as a result of their service to the community. These dedicated public servants shouldn’t have to worry about quality healthcare and making ends meet if they’re forced to retire early. Benefits like the Special Retirement Supplement are key to ensuring fire fighters a dignified retirement until their Social Security benefits begin. Congress must preserve this annuity for federal fire fighters and reject this portion of the proposed reconciliation bill,” said International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) General President Edward A. Kelly.
“Members of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union dedicated their lives to serving the United States Postal Service and its customers, but our hard work is being met with threats against our earned federal retirement benefits. Make no mistake, these proposed changes do nothing but harm the middle-class workers we represent. This is not how Congress makes America great again,” said National Postal Mail Handlers Union National President Paul V. Hogrogian.
“The federal employee pay and benefit cuts included in the Republican budget constitute a complete abandonment of the commitment Congress has made to AUSAs and other federal civil servants. If these cuts are approved, the resulting increased workforce turnover, staff attrition with loss of expertise, and decreased morale in U.S. Attorney’s Offices will have real costs for taxpayers and undermine the capacity of those offices to accomplish their important public safety mission. NAAUSA calls on Congress to reject these cuts,” said Steve Wasserman, President of the National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys (NAAUSA). “The notion that we need to propose cuts elsewhere so that the Republicans can balance the budget on the backs of underpaid and underfunded federal prosecutors and Medicaid recipients to fund a tax cut for the super wealthy is grossly offensive. It is a false choice.”
“Federal employees are not the cause of the government’s debt nor deficit. Career federal employees who reach the Senior Executive Service (SES) ranks in government have forgone significant income opportunities while serving their nation. In addition to being dedicated to serving the mission of their agencies, career executives have signed on to Federal service with the promise of a pension and stable retirement — key parts of the government’s employment value proposition. Many dedicated senior executives made professional and family financial decisions based on these commitments. Congress should keep the promises made to executives who have faithfully served the nation, often for decades,” said Marcus Hill, President of the Senior Executives Association (SEA). “SEA believes it is short-sighted to impose pay cuts that will only make the government less competitive and attractive as an employer for the talent needed to serve America, now and into the future. The association is open to discussing changes that can improve the system for future employees, but Congress should not disadvantage current federal employees who have devoted their lives and careers to public service.”
“The $50 billion in cuts to federal employee pay and benefits are not just numbers on a spreadsheet—they represent broken promises and disrupted lives,” said Kelly Reyes, Executive Director of the Professional Managers Association (PMA). “Our members have spent 25–30 years building a stable future based on longstanding agreements with the government, and now they’re questioning whether they can afford to retire. One manager described it as ‘changing the terms of the mortgage the day before closing.’ These proposals don’t just impact today’s workforce—they send a chilling message to the next generation, making it nearly impossible for government to recruit top talent in critical fields like accounting, cybersecurity, and data science, where private-sector competition is fierce. PMA members aren’t just thinking about themselves—they’re thinking about the teams they lead, the services they deliver, and the future of federal service itself. We are not opposed to hard conversations about sustainability, but changes of this magnitude must be prospective, not retroactive. Congress must honor the social contract made with current federal employees.”
“The reconciliation provisions that the Republican majority on the House Oversight Committee advanced are a part of the Trump Administration’s effort to dismantle the government, eliminate federal employee unions, and inject political corruption into the civil service,” said International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) President Matt Biggs. “The reconciliation provisions that cut federal retirement benefits break a commitment to federal workers who’ve dedicated their careers to public service and, if enacted, will be the last straw for so many highly qualified and knowledgeable workers at federal agencies who are being bullied, disrespected, and unlawfully fired and denied workforce protections by the Trump Administration. Our union will continue building bipartisan opposition to these provisions, and we applaud Oversight Committee Democrats for their strong defense of the merit-based, nonpartisan civil service.”
“These proposals are a disgusting attack on every letter carrier, postal employee and federal employee,” said National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) President Brian L. Renfroe. “Letter carriers earn their retirement benefits through hard work and already pay their fair share. If enacted, this would amount to a nearly 11 percent pay cut for some letter carriers, which is especially egregious since the Postal Service is an independent, off-budget agency. Taxpayers don’t fund USPS or our retirement benefits. NALC’s 295,000 active and retired letter carriers will continue fighting until these unfair attacks are off the table.”
“The APWU is vehemently opposed to the proposed pension cuts,” said American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Legislative and Political Director Judy Beard. “No worker should have the benefits they were promised placed in jeopardy to finance tax cuts for the wealthy. We must also fight to keep these benefits intact since they encourage people to apply for jobs at the United States Postal Service.”
“The Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s reconciliation plan, which aims to cut $51 billion off the backs of federal and postal employees over the next decade, is simply wrong,” said Don Maston, National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA) President. “Federal and postal employees don’t enter public service to get rich—they do it to serve their country and to be the backbone of the essential services that keep this nation running. They do it for stable, secure jobs with decent benefits. To change pension and retirement benefits mid-career is not just unfair, it’s a broken promise to the workers who have dedicated their lives to serving the public. Federal workers cannot continue to be the easy target for budget savings. The proposals put forth by the Oversight Committee are, in effect, substantial pay cuts for hardworking postal and federal employees, and must be removed from the final bill. The NRLCA thanks Congressman Lynch and Congressman Hoyer for organizing this Roundtable discussion and ensuring our voices are heard.”
“Federal and postal employees paid into and earned their accrued retirement benefits – they are not gifts,” said National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) Vice President John Hatton. “No matter the degree of change, clawing back the full amount of those accrued benefit is theft, plain and simple. What if a private-sector company took back a portion of vested contributions into a defined contribution plan? Would that even be legal? Would that really be any different than cutting back the vested portion of a defined benefit plan? Yet not only does this provision apply to vested federal employees, it applies to individuals who are currently eligible for retirement, or who become eligible in the next few years, taking away hard-earned benefits that they have relied upon in planning for retirement.”
“NTEU appreciates the opportunity to work with members of Congress who are willing to stand up and fight for the federal workforce,” said National Treasury Employees Union National President Doreen Greenwald. “The deep cuts to benefits for federal employees passed out of the Oversight Committee last week are another slap in the face to the hardworking civil servants who are already facing unprecedented attacks from this administration. We’re deeply appreciative of the elected officials who take the time to hear from those most impacted about the harm drastic cuts would have on our country’s most vital resource: the civil servants who work daily to keep this nation running.”
