Filed under: News, The Economy
From The Huffington Post:
The Obama administration announced on Monday an ambitious plan to freeze the salaries of federal employees for two years in an effort to address massive deficits and get a handle on the country's unsustainable fiscal path.
The proposal calls for a two-year pay freeze that would save the country $28 billion in the next five years and $60 billion over the coming decade. It would be applied to all civilian federal employees, including those at the Pentagon, but not to military personnel.
The Obama administration announced on Monday an ambitious plan to freeze the salaries of federal employees for two years in an effort to address massive deficits and get a handle on the country's unsustainable fiscal path.
The proposal calls for a two-year pay freeze that would save the country $28 billion in the next five years and $60 billion over the coming decade. It would be applied to all civilian federal employees, including those at the Pentagon, but not to military personnel.
"Clearly this is a difficult decision," said Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director for Management Jeffrey Zients. "Today, the president is clearly asking [federal employees] to make a sacrifice. We believe it is the first of many difficult steps ahead that we will be taking in the upcoming budget to put our nation on sound fiscal footing."
The announcement comes amid an intensifying political focus on ways for the government to scale back spending and close the deficit. It is the second time in as many weeks that the president has found himself reading from the same "fiscal responsibility" script as his Republican critics. Last week, the White House and congressional Republicans both reiterated their support for a moratorium on earmarks -- the pork-barrel projects that are a tiny portion of federal spending but serve as an invitation for influence peddling.
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Read the rest on The Huffington Post.
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