Obama Weighs in on Pay, Furloughs, Freezes

The Washington Post's Joe Davidson pinned down President Obama today on the touchy subjects of federal pay, hiring freezes and potential furloughs.

On the issue of federal vs. private sector pay, Davidson writes that Obama told a group of black columnists, "the data we get back indicates that high-skilled workers in government are slightly underpaid. Lower-skilled workers are slightly overpaid relative to the private sector."

When it comes to spending, Obama said "government should have to tighten its belt as well. We need to do it in an intelligent way. We need to make sure we do things smarter, rather than just lopping something off arbitrarily without having thought it through."

"In some cases, [agencies] may say we don't need to fill vacancies," the president said.

Davidson also reported that Obama would not rule out furloughs of federal employees, as has happened in several state governments, but warned about the effects of such action on service delivery.