Groups still worried about possible extended federal pay freeze

While debate in Congress over the payroll tax cut continues to rage, federal employee groups remain worried that provisions affecting government workers still could be included in a final legislative deal.

The House passed a bill extending the payroll tax cut for a year and partly financed it through a longer salary freeze for federal employees and lawmakers and a requirement that both groups contribute more to their government pensions. The Senate's version, approved Saturday, did not include those spending offsets and would extend the payroll tax cut for two months rather than one year.

The two chambers remain at an impasse over how to resolve the issue, and federal employee unions remain vigilant against a bill that would reduce government workers' compensation. While the Senate version spared feds, the House on Tuesday rejected an up-or-down vote on the Senate's legislation and instead approved a measure to head into a conference committee to bring together both chambers to resolve their difference.

If the two chambers agree to go into conference, it's possible the provisions affecting federal workers could be included in a compromise that extends the payroll tax holiday for a year. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., however, has refused to appoint conferees to broker a deal on the payroll legislation. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has named eight GOP conferees: Kevin Brady of Texas, Dave Camp of Michigan, Renee Ellmers of North Carolina, Nan Hayworth of New York, Tom Price of Georgia, Tom Reed of New York, Fred Upton of Michigan and Greg Walden of Oregon.

"It is true that all of us that represent federal workers need to remain vigilant and aggressive on the Hill, and through our communication and grass-roots efforts with our members," said Matt Biggs, legislative and political director for the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. Biggs said, however, there is concern that some lawmakers are "shaky" on the matter of including measures that could affect government employees. "Federal workers do have a strong core group of supporters on the Hill that will continue to fight on their behalf. However, and is evidenced by some recent statements made by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, there are also enough of them that would easily give up on federal workers, particularly with respect to the pay freeze, as part of any compromise," he said. Biggs declined to name those lawmakers.

Washington-area lawmakers and a handful of other Democrats have criticized plans to reduce federal employees' compensation to help pay for the tax cut. The White House has been mum on the issue.

Congressional negotiators could continue to try and hammer out differences informally over the holidays. Even if an extended pay freeze or other reductions in federal employees' compensation are excluded from a final deal -- whenever that occurs -- those provisions likely will resurface again, as they have for more than a year now.

The National Treasury Employees Union released a statement Monday urging the House "to reject further cuts to middle-class federal employees just to protect millionaires and billionaires from any sacrifice at all." For their part, House Republicans have stressed that the payroll tax extender plan is a balanced package that is offset by necessary spending cuts and includes provisions providing tax relief to many Americans and businesses while protecting Social Security.

Both Republicans and Democrats have engaged in various political machinations over the payroll tax cut extension. President Obama and Reid tried to link the fate of the payroll tax cut extension to the omnibus spending bill keeping the government running after Dec. 16, sparking speculation over a government shutdown. Congress, however, this past weekend voted to fund the government through the end of fiscal 2012, averting the threat of any more shutdowns until next fall. Obama signed a short-term continuing resolution on Saturday to keep the government open through Dec. 23 to allow time for the full package to get to his desk.

On the House floor Tuesday afternoon, many Republicans, including Reps. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., reiterated their support for freezing federal pay, including their own, to help finance the payroll tax cut extension. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., announced that House conferees are expected to stay in town for the foreseeable future to work on ironing out their differences with Democrats. But it's unclear what the House schedule will be if Democrats, as Reid has said, refuse to participate in a conference committee.

While he expressed overall support for extending the payroll tax cut, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., objected to the rhetoric and politicization of the issue and the Republicans' refusal to consider the Senate's version. "I'm not going to be here on Christmas," he said. "I am going to be at home and in church . . . This is sick."