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Washington, D.C.—The president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today reacted with shock and anger at a set of severe budget cutbacks proposed by Republican members of the House of Representatives as a way of curtailing the federal deficit in the face of new spending demands generated by recent events, including Hurricane Katrina.

The proposals by an organization of conservative Republicans known as the Republican Study Committee (RSC) call for radical changes in federal retirement; an increase in federal retiree health insurance premiums; additional costs for both public and private sector retirees in Medicare fees, co-payments and other charges; and a curtailment of funds for repairs to and new construction of federal buildings, including safety and security expenditures.

By changing the present retirement formula in which initial federal retiree benefits are based on average salary during a worker’s three consecutive highest earning years to one based on a so-called “High 5” system, retirees would lose $5.2 billion over 10 years in premium costs, President Colleen M. Kelley said.

At the same time, the proposals would prevent retirees from maintaining their federal health insurance at the same premium they paid during their working years—a change that would require them to pay an additional $6.3 billion over 10 years in premium costs. The proposed Medicare changes alone would cost public and private sector retirees another $203.8 billion over 10 years.

“This is a deeply-flawed proposal that falls disproportionately on the backs of those who can least likely afford it including federal employees and retirees,” Kelley said. “Even if only parts of it move forward, federal employees will be severely shortchanged. These are the same federal employees who are playing key roles in the recovery and stabilization of the Gulf Coast region following Hurricane Katrina and are readying the Texas and Louisiana coasts for the oncoming Hurricane Rita.”

Kelley said the RSC proposals call not only for the curtailment of new construction and repairs to federal buildings, they take funding away from the General Services Administration (GSA) to make decisions as to building deficiencies and needed repairs.

The proposals, which would eliminate the entire Department of Energy (DOE) environmental management program and slash $989 million from the budget of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and another $167 million from the Treasury Department, also call for federal employees to pay $1.5 billion over 10 years for parking at their work places, Kelley said.

The RSC proposal would generate significant cuts in the school lunch program, in the work of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and that of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments.