New Congress takes aim at public workers
In their first three days, the new Republican majority in the U.S. Congress didn’t waste any time in launching a stunning attack on federal government employees without even the thinnest of rationales.
House Republicans voted overwhelmingly to allow lawmakers to slash the pay of federal employees down to $1 through amendments to appropriations bills.
While a majority of the House and Senate would still have to approve any amendment, the federal government’s 2.1 million civil servants are clearly now more susceptible than ever.
According to the Washington Post, Rep. H. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) who pushed for passage of the rule said it is unlikely that members of Congress will “go crazy” and cut the pay of large numbers of federal employees—but he added, “I can’t tell you it won’t happen.”
Rep. Griffith’s chilling words were met with stiff opposition from House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) in a floor speech on Tuesday.
“Republicans have consistently made our hard-working federal employees scapegoats [and] this rule change will allow them to make shortsighted and ideologically driven changes to our civil service,” Rep. Hoyer said.
Around the country, Republicans are starting the new year with a laser-focused assault on public workers.
The Nation’s John Nichols points out that Republicans who gained a majority in the Kentucky state legislature are taking immediate action to pass a so-called “right-to-work” law that follows Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s playbook where “upon grabbing the reins of power, Republicans should move immediately to undermine unions that often support Democrats and that argue for maintaining public services and public education.”
