Words of Kindness

The Thrift Savings Plan has been buffeted over the past several years by computer deals gone awry and intra-agency conflict, but a senior lawmaker took time on Monday to voice support for the federal retirement savings plan.

Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., pointed out that the average cost to investors in the TSP was 11 basis points, or 11 cents for every $100 invested. A comparable index fund in the private sector, he said, has an expense ratio of 63 basis points-or 63 cents for every $100 invested.

According to TSP Executive Director Gary Amelio, the average cost to TSP investors is usually around seven basis points. The savings plan was required to tack on three basis points last year to cover the costs of the failed American Management Systems Inc. computer deal.

AMS was hired in 1997 to modernize the TSP computer system and give federal employees greater flexibility in managing their retirement accounts. The $30 million project was supposed to take three years to complete, but deadlines were continually missed, causing the work to run on for four years.

In July 2001, the board fired AMS and sued the company for $350 million in damages. AMS filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit. The two sides reached an out-of-court settlement in which TSP participants paid $36 million for the failed contract.

On Monday, Fitzgerald praised the work done by TSP officials and said that it was unfair that private citizens do not have access to a comparably efficient savings plan.

"Despite its size, the TSP has been successful in providing plan participants with high-quality service, while keeping administrative fees and transaction costs to a minimum," he said.

Withholding Information The office of Rep. Ernest Istook Jr., R-Okla., declined Wednesday to make public the names of 50 Republican lawmakers who recently signed a letter opposing equal pay raises for military and civilian federal workers.

In his fiscal 2005 budget proposal, President Bush proposed a 3.5 percent average pay raise for the military and a 1.5 percent average increase for the federal civilian workforce. A similar situation occurred last year, but Congress overruled the White House, voting in January to grant both military and civilians a 4.1 percent average pay adjustment. A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers has vowed to fight for pay parity again in fiscal 2005.

Istook's letter, sent to his colleagues last month, said he supported President Bush's stance against pay parity and asked others to get behind the Bush administration on the issue.

Federal labor union officials pressed for the names and accused the lawmakers of refusing to stand behind the letter.

"If these representatives feel so strongly about denying federal employees the same 3.5 percent pay increase as military employees, they ought to have the courage to tell their constituents," said American Federation of Government Employees Legislative and Political Director Beth Moten.

Istook's office, however, said that the unions were planning to unfairly target lawmakers who were seeking only to provide restraint in federal spending.