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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees today called on members of the House of Representatives to reject this week a handful of damaging bills misdirected at the federal workforce for political purposes.

In a letter to House members, President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said the bills, supported by the House leadership, are nothing more than “a ploy aimed at scoring political points on the backs of middle class federal employees,” who are in the third year of a pay freeze and who are facing pay cuts of as much as 20 percent from sequestration-related furloughs.

“The House should be addressing the indiscriminate cuts caused by sequestration that are jeopardizing needed government services and slowing our economy,” the NTEU leader wrote. “Instead, this week, the House will take up a stack of bills aimed at diverting attention from its inability to solve problems the public cares about, and attempt to blame and punish civil servants who are doing their best to deliver on their missions with drastically reduced resources.”

In strongly opposing the bills, President Kelley emphasized that despite the pay cutbacks and increased workloads due to understaffing from the drastic and arbitrary sequestration cuts, “these employees continue to work diligently to protect our borders, keep our air and food safe and our seniors secure.”

The bills are part of what the House leadership has called ‘Stop Abuse of Government’ week. They are:

H.R. 2711 provides that every official interaction by any executive branch employee, whether in person or by telephone, be allowed to be recorded by the other party. Further, in certain circumstances, employees must notify the other party of their right to record the matter or face discipline. No exceptions are made for law enforcement or other sensitive communications, nor is there any requirement to notify a federal employee that he or she is being tape-recorded, and congressional interactions are not covered by the bill.

H.R. 2565 requires that Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees who take any official action regarding a taxpayer for personal gain or political purpose be fired without due process, including review by an independent third party. There already are multiple laws in place that prohibit and punish such actions. This measure is based on the false narrative that IRS employees acted out of political motivation in reviewing applications for tax-exempt status—despite the fact that multiple investigations and hearings have found no evidence of such motivation.

H.R. 1541 would cap at 5 percent the total amount of any award, including merit-based performance awards, that any executive branch employee could earn in any year sequestration is in effect. This bill would prevent agencies from rewarding superior performance and using budget authority to ensure it could retain employees most critical to accomplishing their missions. No similar cap on bonuses for congressional staff members is included in the bill.

H.R. 2579 provides that some executive branch employees could have their pay withheld during investigations, even though no finding of wrongdoing had been finally determined. This would mean that employees are considered guilty until proven innocent. Members of Congress are not subject to pay reductions during similar investigations, and this bill does not change that.

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.