Home Media Center News Releases

Washington, D.C.—The leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal workers today applauded action by a key House subcommittee in marking up three bills that would extend a valuable benefit to federal retirees and enhance the ability of the government to recruit and retain the high-quality workforce it needs.

The action by the House Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization “is a significant step forward in recognizing the value that talented, dedicated employees bring to federal agencies, and through those agencies to the public,” said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

The subcommittee marked up H.R. 994, which would allow federal retirees to pay health insurance premiums on a pretax basis; H.R. 1765, known as the GOFEDS (Generating Opportunity by Forgiving Educational Debt for Service) Act, which would make student loan repayments tax-free for federal employees; and H.R. 1283, which would provide certain transit pass fringe benefits to all qualified federal workers in the Washington region—where commuter traffic is among the worst in the nation. The benefit would come in the form of travel vouchers for use on mass transit systems, and in granting federal agencies the authority to transport employees to and from mass transit facilities. Kelley called on Congress to approve all three measures.

“These are not costly matters in dollar terms,” the NTEU leader said, “and their enactment would send a very positive and important message to current and prospective federal employees that their knowledge, abilities and commitment to serve the public are recognized and valued by government agencies.”

Further, she said, passage of these measures would signal “a growing understanding on the part of the federal government that it is in competition with the private sector for the most talented and highly-qualified employees, and that to prevail, it must appeal to workers across a wide range of their needs, concerns and interests.”

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments.