Senate to consider another pay freeze proposal

GOP lawmakers are once again attempting to freeze federal pay.

This time, Republicans included the proposal in an alternative amendment to the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., introduced the amendment, which he said fully pays for extending tax provisions and unemployment insurance benefits.

"My amendment would eliminate harmful tax increases and wasteful spending included in the Democrats' bill," Thune said. "The best way for Congress to keep this nation moving forward is not by raising taxes, but [by] cutting spending and reducing our $13 trillion national debt. It is time for Congress to set clear budget priorities and begin to cut wasteful spending programs."

Thune said the amendment, which the chamber could vote on as early as Wednesday, would save $113 billion in unnecessary spending. Provisions to cut spending include language to freeze federal employees' salaries and eliminate their bonuses, collect federal employees' unpaid taxes, cap the number of government workers at current levels, and rescind $38 billion in unobligated stimulus funds.

The amendment would create a new deficit reduction trust fund where rescinded balances and moneys saved would be deposited for the purposes of paying down the federal debt.

Many of the employee-related provisions of the Thune proposal were plucked from an amendment to the war supplemental bill recently introduced by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and rejected by the Senate.

James Horney, director of federal fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, warned that while the Thune amendment has "obvious surface appeal," it would "shut down much of the federal government for the final months of the fiscal year" ending on Sept. 30. This would threaten "such basic services as providing Social Security checks, ensuring food safety and inspecting mines," Horney wrote.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said on the Senate floor that the spending cuts in the amendment are "arbitrary and restrictive." The provision to cap the total number of federal employees would dramatically reduce agencies' flexibility to make hiring decisions, he said, forcing them to find an existing employee to fire if they needed to hire a new one.

"One provision in the Thune substitute amendment would freeze the salaries of all federal employees, except for members of the armed forces," Baucus said. "But what about civilian defense workers? What about law enforcement? What about border protection?"