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Washington, D.C.—The head of the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees today offered strong support for a letter spearheaded by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) from more than 40 House members urging congressional budget conferees to take further cuts to federal employee pay and benefits off the negotiating table.

“Our public servants have sacrificed enough and we ask that you take this into consideration in your discussions as you search for a path forward on the budget,” stated the letter.

“I welcome this expression of support for the federal workforce,” said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). “The Lynch letter rightly recognizes that federal employees not only have contributed more than their fair share toward helping reduce the federal deficit, but have endured considerable hardships in the process.”

Earlier this month, Kelley sent a letter to House members urging them to sign onto the Lynch message to budget committee co-chairs, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and ranking members Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.). She thanked Rep. Lynch “for his leadership on this vital issue.”

The budget conferees face a Dec. 13 deadline for producing a plan; the current continuing resolution expires on Jan. 15, 2014.

As did President Kelley in her own letter to the budget committee on Nov. 6, the Lynch letter identifies some of the pressures that have faced federal employees, including the three-year pay freeze, a drastic reduction in retirement benefits for new hires and sequester-imposed unpaid furloughs. NTEU also earlier this month joined in a message from the multi-organization Federal-Postal Coalition calling on the budget committee to end the damaging policy of sequestration.

The House members noted that during the October shutdown of the government, nearly 3,000 more federal employees than in October a year ago made ‘financial hardship’ withdrawals from their Thrift Savings Account (TSP) plans; this means these employees are not permitted to contribute to their TSP accounts for six months and will lose their agency’s matching contributions for that time period, as well.

“The emotional stress and financial difficulties that our public servants have undergone as a result of the endless assaults and manufactured crises are beyond measure,” the House members wrote.

In calling for the budget committee to take all this into consideration, the Lynch letter spelled out some of the important duties of the federal workforce.

It said: “They are the doctors and nurses who care for our wounded veterans; our transportation security personnel who ensure safe travel for millions of Americans; the inspectors who safeguard our food and water supplies; the Customs and Border Protection [and] Border Patrol agents who protect our borders; the Nobel-Prize winning scientists who research life-saving cures for diseases, and public servants who make sure our seniors and most vulnerable in our society receive the benefits they need.”

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