The administration’s budget sharply cuts federal employee take-home pay and retirement benefits and funding for many NTEU-represented agencies. While this is alarming, these proposals are hardly a done deal so this is not the time for federal employees to relent. In fact, this is just the time to act with the start of the budget and appropriations processes. NTEU members will have many chances in the weeks and months ahead to raise our voices and have a say on federal workforce issues.
Here’s some background on the budget: The president submits a budget request to Congress for the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. It tells Congress what the president recommends for overall fiscal policy (for example, how much the government should spend and take in as tax revenue), as well as his policy goals and priorities. The president’s budget is a request, or blueprint, and it’s just a kick off to a lengthy, months-long legislative process that ultimately Congress controls. This is where NTEU and you come in.
NTEU is determined to fight every step in the legislative process on behalf of the federal employees who serve this country. We have been outspoken about the personal toll of pay and retirement cuts on middle-class families in communities around the country who depend on wages and pensions—promised to them—to pay their bills month to month. National President Tony Reardon drove home this message and the harmful impact of agency cuts in a news conference hours after the administration’s budget was released. See NTEU’s media coverage here.
Now, we need every federal employee to join us. Contact your members of Congress today and urge them to oppose the president’s budget proposals.