Bill Threatens Federal Pensions

Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., on Wednesday introduced a bill that would increase how much federal employees pay toward their retirement and steeply reduce pensions for new employees. HR 3813, the Securing Annuities for Federal Employees Act, would raise contributions for current Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) employees by 0.5 percentage points per year for three years, beginning in 2013. This would make FERS employees contribute 2.3 percent of each paycheck toward their pensions, and require an 8.5 percent contribution from CSRS employees.

Where does NARFE stand?

"Shared sacrifice is fair, but singling out federal employees and retirees for disparate treatment threatens to do permanent harm to a federal civil service critical to meeting the increasingly complex and deeply important tasks of government," Dave Snell, director of retirement benefits services at the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, told the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on the federal workforce.

Why is this important?

The Office of Personnel Management said that the 1.5 million CSRS retirees have an average annual pension of $35,000, and that 361,000 FERS retirees receive an average pension of $12,780.

Read more about this danger from the Federal Times. And then - Tell Congress to Protect Postal Retirement & Health Benefits