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Washington, D.C.—The nation’s largest independent union of federal workers today joined with other federal employee organizations in endorsing the re-election bids of four members of Congress from Maryland who have been particularly supportive of federal workers—Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Reps. Steny Hoyer, Chris Van Hollen and Albert Wynn.

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) joined in the morning endorsement rally at the Marriott Hotel in Greenbelt, MD.

In emphasizing NTEU’s support for legislators who understand and value the work and contributions of federal employees, President Kelley cited each of the Maryland elected officials as being a key player in advancing the interests of the federal workforce.

Sen. Mikulski, she said, was the “the force behind enactment” of the federal long-term care insurance program, continues to press for relief from the law which limits the Social Security income of many lower-income federal employees, and is leading the fight in the Senate to throw out the administration’s “unfair rewrite” of the rules governing the contracting out of federal jobs.

She offered similar praise for Rep. Hoyer, noting that he has “ably used” his position as House Minority Whip “to bring attention to the many needs of the federal government and its workforce.”

Each and every year, Kelley said, Rep. Hoyer “leads the fight for pay parity for the nation’s federal civilian employees. This year has been no different.” She added: Rep. Hoyer “has made it his business to champion the issues of federal employees—and no one does it better.”

The union president said she was pleased to be able to endorse Rep. Van Hollen and cited his strenuous efforts to oppose the administration’s plan to require the IRS to turn over sensitive taxpayer information to private sector debt collectors for the collection of tax debts.

“We still have work to do” on contracting out issues, she said, “and we need Chris Van Hollen to be returned to Congress to accomplish our goals.”

President Kelley called Rep. Wynn “another leader in the fight against rampant contracting out of federal employee jobs,” noting in particular his introduction of “critical legislation” to require those doing business with the federal government “to possess at least a satisfactory record of integrity and ethics.”

The NTEU leader also had high praise for another Maryland lawmaker, Sen. Paul Sarbanes, who is not up for election this year. President Kelley ran down a list of his accomplishments on behalf of federal workers—including his work on the Senate Budget Committee to convince his colleagues of the importance of a fair pay raise for the civilian federal workforce—and called him “a true friend of federal employees.”

While much that is positive has been done, Kelley said, there is legislative work remaining during the upcoming lame duck session of Congress, including dealing with the 2005 federal pay raise, contracting out and tax debt privatization. NTEU continues to work for favorable language on these issues in the fiscal 2005 Transportation-Treasury Appropriations bill.

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