House passes massive Federal Employee Retirement Cuts

[James48843]

If you haven't seen this- you need to.

Yesterday, the House passed a MASSIVE CUT to Federal Employee Retirement benefits in the House budget.

Included in the cuts:

1. FERS supplement is gone EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY- INCLUDING ANYBODY WHO IS CURRENTLY RECEIVING FERS SUPPLEMENT.

2. END to FERS Cost of Living Increased each year.

3. A five-year phase in of the cost for FERS- from 0.8% to 6% of YOUR pay to pay for it.

4. Changes that make the "G" fund worthless as an investment tool-


Read the story here:

House Approves Budget Plan that Would Cut Federal Employee Benefits
by Eric Wagner, Govexec.com

House Approves Budget Plan that Would Cut Federal Employee Benefits

• House lawmakers voted 219-206 Thursday to approve a resolution outlining the body’s fiscal 2018 budget priorities, which include a number of controversial cuts to federal employees’ retirement and benefits programs.
• 
  The House’s budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 71) asks 11 committees to come up with a total of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts through budget reconciliation, setting the stage for Republicans’ tax reform initiative. Within that, the legislation mandates that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which oversees federal compensation and retirement programs, cut $32 billion over the next 10 years.
• 
  The resolution does not specify how the oversight committee should achieve savings, but theTrump administrationlast spring proposed a number of changes to federal retirement: a 6 percentage point increase in employee contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System, phased in over six years; the elimination of cost of living adjustments for FERS employees and a 0.5 percent reduction in COLAs for Civil Service Retirement System enrollees; elimination of the FERS supplement for employees who retire before Social Security kicks in at age 62; and basing the value of retirement benefits on the highest five years of employees’ earnings instead of the current highest three years.

More to the article:

http://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2017/10/house-approves-budget-would-cut-federal-benefits/141582/?oref=top-story

 

[James48843]

Roll Call vote of who voted on the Budget resolution yesterday, which cuts Federal Employee retirement benefits to fund the tax cut for the rich:





[SIZE=+2]FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 557[/SIZE](Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined)
H CON RES 71 YEA-AND-NAY 5-Oct-2017 11:48 AM

QUESTION: On Agreeing to the Resolution

BILL TITLE: Establishing the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2018 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2019 through 2027

[TABLE="width: 90%, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]YEAS[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]NAYS[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]PRES[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]NV[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]REPUBLICAN[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]219[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]18[/TD]
[TD="align: right"] [/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]DEMOCRATIC[/TD]
[TD="align: right"] [/TD]
[TD="align: right"]188[/TD]
[TD="align: right"] [/TD]
[TD="align: right"]6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]INDEPENDENT[/TD]
[TD="align: right"] [/TD]
[TD="align: right"] [/TD]
[TD="align: right"] [/TD]
[TD="align: right"] [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TOTALS[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]219[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]206[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]
[TD="align: right"]9[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


[SIZE=+1]---- YEAS 219 ---[/SIZE]
[TABLE="width: 90%, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 33.3%"]Abraham
Aderholt
Allen
Amodei
Arrington
Babin
Bacon
Banks (IN)
Barletta
Barr
Barton
Bergman
Biggs
Bilirakis
Bishop (MI)
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Bost
Brady (TX)
Brat
Brooks (AL)
Brooks (IN)
Buchanan
Bucshon
Budd
Burgess
Byrne
Calvert
Carter (GA)
Carter (TX)
Chabot
Cheney
Coffman
Cole
Collins (GA)
Collins (NY)
Comer
Conaway
Cook
Cramer
Crawford
Culberson
Curbelo (FL)
Davidson
Davis, Rodney
Denham
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Donovan
Duffy
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Dunn
Emmer
Estes (KS)
Farenthold
Faso
Ferguson
Fleischmann
Flores
Fortenberry
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gaetz
Gallagher
Garrett
Gianforte
Gibbs
Gohmert
Goodlatte
Gosar
[/TD]
[TD="width: 33.3%"]Gowdy
Granger
Graves (GA)
Graves (LA)
Graves (MO)
Griffith
Grothman
Guthrie
Handel
Harper
Harris
Hartzler
Hensarling
Herrera Beutler
Hice, Jody B.
Higgins (LA)
Hill
Holding
Hollingsworth
Hudson
Huizenga
Hultgren
Hunter
Hurd
Issa
Jenkins (KS)
Jenkins (WV)
Johnson (LA)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson, Sam
Jordan
Joyce (OH)
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
King (IA)
Kinzinger
Knight
Kustoff (TN)
Labrador
LaHood
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Latta
Lewis (MN)
Long
Loudermilk
Love
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
MacArthur
Marchant
Marino
Marshall
McCarthy
McCaul
McClintock
McHenry
McMorris Rodgers
McSally
Meadows
Messer
Mitchell
Moolenaar
Mooney (WV)
Mullin
Newhouse
Noem
Norman
Nunes
Olson
Palazzo
Palmer
Paulsen
[/TD]
[TD="width: 33.3%"]Pearce
Perry
Pittenger
Poe (TX)
Poliquin
Posey
Ratcliffe
Reed
Reichert
Renacci
Rice (SC)
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rohrabacher
Rokita
Rooney, Francis
Rooney, Thomas J.
Roskam
Ross
Rothfus
Rouzer
Royce (CA)
Russell
Rutherford
Ryan (WI)
Sanford
Scalise
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (TX)
Smucker
Stefanik
Stewart
Stivers
Taylor
Tenney
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiberi
Tipton
Trott
Turner
Upton
Valadao
Wagner
Walberg
Walden
Walker
Walorski
Walters, Mimi
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Wenstrup
Westerman
Williams
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Woodall
Yoder
Yoho
Young (AK)
Young (IA)
Zeldin
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[SIZE=+1]---- NAYS 206 ---[/SIZE]
[TABLE="width: 90%, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 33.3%"]Adams
Aguilar
Amash
Barragán
Bass
Beatty
Bera
Beyer
Bishop (GA)
Blum
Blumenauer
Blunt Rochester
Bonamici
Boyle, Brendan F.
Brady (PA)
Brown (MD)
Brownley (CA)
Buck
Bustos
Butterfield
Capuano
Carbajal
Cárdenas
Carson (IN)
Cartwright
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Chu, Judy
Cicilline
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Comstock
Connolly
Conyers
Cooper
Correa
Costa
Costello (PA)
Courtney
Crist
Crowley
Cuellar
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis, Danny
DeFazio
DeGette
Delaney
DeLauro
DelBene
Demings
Dent
DeSaulnier
Deutch
Dingell
Doggett
Ellison
Engel
Eshoo
Espaillat
Esty (CT)
Evans
Fitzpatrick
Foster
Frankel (FL)
[/TD]
[TD="width: 33.3%"]Fudge
Gabbard
Gallego
Garamendi
Gomez
Gonzalez (TX)
Gottheimer
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutiérrez
Hanabusa
Hastings
Heck
Higgins (NY)
Himes
Hoyer
Huffman
Jackson Lee
Jayapal
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Johnson, E. B.
Jones
Kaptur
Katko
Keating
Kelly (IL)
Kennedy
Khanna
Kildee
Kilmer
Kind
King (NY)
Krishnamoorthi
Kuster (NH)
Lance
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lawrence
Lawson (FL)
Lee
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lieu, Ted
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Loebsack
Lofgren
Lowenthal
Lowey
Lujan Grisham, M.
Luján, Ben Ray
Lynch
Maloney, Carolyn B.
Maloney, Sean
Massie
Mast
Matsui
McCollum
McEachin
McGovern
McKinley
McNerney
Meehan
Meeks
Meng
Moore
[/TD]
[TD="width: 33.3%"]Moulton
Murphy (FL)
Nadler
Neal
Nolan
Norcross
O'Halleran
O'Rourke
Pallone
Panetta
Pascrell
Payne
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Peters
Peterson
Pingree
Pocan
Polis
Price (NC)
Quigley
Raskin
Rice (NY)
Richmond
Ros-Lehtinen
Roybal-Allard
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Sánchez
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schneider
Schrader
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Serrano
Sewell (AL)
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Sinema
Sires
Slaughter
Smith (NJ)
Smith (WA)
Soto
Speier
Suozzi
Swalwell (CA)
Takano
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tonko
Torres
Tsongas
Vargas
Veasey
Vela
Velázquez
Visclosky
Wasserman Schultz
Waters, Maxine
Watson Coleman
Welch
Wilson (FL)
Yarmuth
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[SIZE=+1]---- NOT VOTING 9 ---[/SIZE]
[TABLE="width: 90%, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 33.3%"]Bridenstine
DeSantis
Doyle, Michael F.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 33.3%"]Kihuen
Murphy (PA)
Napolitano
[/TD]
[TD="width: 33.3%"]Rosen
Titus
Walz
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[evilanne]

Don't panic yet...it just a budget resolution.

https://federalnewsradio.com/retire...dget-resolution-with-federal-retirement-cuts/


A couple of things folks need to pay attention to:

"Instead of the current formula, which caps the government contribution at the average weighted rate of change in FEHBprograms, the House resolution suggests tying government increases to the rate of inflation."

"The latest version of the House resolution also includes a proposal that would reduce the G fund’s rate of return in the Thrift Savings Plan."

 

[nasa1974]

Don't panic yet...it just a budget resolution.

https://federalnewsradio.com/retire...dget-resolution-with-federal-retirement-cuts/


A couple of things folks need to pay attention to:

"Instead of the current formula, which caps the government contribution at the average weighted rate of change in FEHBprograms, the House resolution suggests tying government increases to the rate of inflation."

"The latest version of the House resolution also includes a proposal that would reduce the G fund’s rate of return in the Thrift Savings Plan." AGAIN

The "G" fund earned 8.81% in 1988. In 2016 it earned 1.82%. How much lower do they want to go?

 

[uscfanhawaii]

The "G" fund earned 8.81% in 1988. In 2016 it earned 1.82%. How much lower do they want to go?

Really! Like anyone in the G fund is making any substantial coin. Even if they reduced it to Zero, I don't think the government would make a dent in the 20 million national debt. Yet, even the meager G return at least gives those folks SOMETHING. Serious misplaced attention. Don't they have anything better to go after?!?

 

[FireWeatherMet]

If you haven't seen this- you need to.

Yesterday, the House passed a MASSIVE CUT to Federal Employee Retirement benefits in the House budget.

Included in the cuts:

1. FERS supplement is gone EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY- INCLUDING ANYBODY WHO IS CURRENTLY RECEIVING FERS SUPPLEMENT.

2. END to FERS Cost of Living Increased each year.

3. A five-year phase in of the cost for FERS- from 0.8% to 6% of YOUR pay to pay for it.

4. Changes that make the "G" fund worthless as an investment tool-


Read the story here:



More to the article:

http://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2017/10/house-approves-budget-would-cut-federal-benefits/141582/?oref=top-story

Nothing like belonging to a party that is against your better interests.

 

[userque]

Nothing like belonging to a party that is against your better interests.

Nothing like voting someone into office who's against your better interests...then defending them.

 

[RazorCat]

From what I’m reading these proposals mostly affect new hires and current employees. Not saying more of the proposals couldn’t affect current retirees, but the only I saw was the elimination/reduction of COLAs for current FER and CSRS retirees. This also affects Congress’ retirement going forward. What gets me is FERS was fully funded through employee contributions and agency budgets before someone decided to cover some of the CSRS deficit from FERS assets. Yet CSRS stills gets a reduced COLA while FERS gets none. No, I don’t like parts of it. And I’ll be writing my Congressmen about it.

"The budget proposes a minimum of $32 billion in additional pay and retirement cuts to current, future, and retired federal workers – a down payment on President Trump's proposal to cut $149 billion from employees' pay and benefits over the next 10 years", American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National President J. David Cox Sr. said.

The White House's 2018 budget proposal released in May included:

• An increase of 1 percent in retirement contributions for those in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) -- phased over a period of several years.
• Instead of using the current high three average salary to calculate retirement annuities, replace with high five year average salary baseline.
• Eliminate the cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) to current and future FERS employees
• Reduce the COLA for CSRS employees by 0.5 percent.
• Eliminate the FERS annuity supplement for eligible employees retiring 2018 and beyond.

The full House Budget proposal can be read here: https://budget.house.gov/budgets/fy18/

 

[slayer72]

More news from the Swamp
House Proposal for Federal Employee Health Program Could Decimate Workers? Benefits - Pay & Benefits - GovExec.com

 

[nnuut]

More news from the Swamp
House Proposal for Federal Employee Health Program Could Decimate Workers? Benefits - Pay & Benefits - GovExec.com

Don't worry, the Democrats need more votes in 2018, they will block this one in the Senate.

 

[uscfanhawaii]

Really! Like anyone in the G fund is making any substantial coin. Even if they reduced it to Zero, I don't think the government would make a dent in the 20 million national debt. Yet, even the meager G return at least gives those folks SOMETHING. Serious misplaced attention. Don't they have anything better to go after?!?

SORRY!!! That should have been TRILLION, with a T (and 3 more decimal places!).

 

[uscfanhawaii]

If you haven't seen this- you need to.

Yesterday, the House passed a MASSIVE CUT to Federal Employee Retirement benefits in the House budget.

Included in the cuts:

1. FERS supplement is gone EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY- INCLUDING ANYBODY WHO IS CURRENTLY RECEIVING FERS SUPPLEMENT.

2. END to FERS Cost of Living Increased each year.

3. A five-year phase in of the cost for FERS- from 0.8% to 6% of YOUR pay to pay for it.

4. Changes that make the "G" fund worthless as an investment tool-


Read the story here:



More to the article:

http://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2017/10/house-approves-budget-would-cut-federal-benefits/141582/?oref=top-story

Ten Republicans Urge Oversight Committee Chair Not to Cut Retirement Benefits for Feds - Pay & Benefits - GovExec.com

And here's another govexec article saying that 10 Repubs wrote a letter asking that FED benefits NOT be reduced. Add to that the other faction of Repubs that will vote against it because it is NOT REDUCED ENOUGH, and assuming NO Dems will vote for it. And this sounds like a replay of the Health Care debacle. So no budget passes. And similar rumblings on the New Tax Plan and you have NO new legislation passed.

What does this all mean for stocks? I am believing in the melt-up theory. The market will continue to go up, probably even faster, till everyone realized none of the legislation will get passed, and then market drops 20-25% like a rock.

Wacha think? :theyareontome: :theyareontome:

 

[evilanne]

It may be a good time to join National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE)

"The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), one of America’s oldest and largest associations, was founded in 1921 with the mission of protecting the earned rights and benefits of America’s active and retired federal workers. The largest federal employee/retiree organization, NARFE represents the interests of 5 million current and future federal annuitants, spouses and survivors."

 

[emily]

It may be a good time to join National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE)

"The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), one of America’s oldest and largest associations, was founded in 1921 with the mission of protecting the earned rights and benefits of America’s active and retired federal workers. The largest federal employee/retiree organization, NARFE represents the interests of 5 million current and future federal annuitants, spouses and survivors."

And then tell your coworkers to join also.

 

[Buster]

Federal CSRS retirees, will see a 2.1% increase this January;

2018 COLA

Social Security Recipients and Federal retirees will receive a 2 percent COLA increase in 2018. CSRS will receive 2.1% and the FERS COLA will be a little lower at 2.0%. This is an estimate and the actualy rate may vary depending on the CPI readings over the next few months. If your gross annual annuity is $35,000 your increase with a 2.1 percent increase will be $735 or $61.25 per month, FERS slightly less. The 2016 increase was 0.0 percent and the 2017 COLA was .3%. View the table located at the bottom of this page for listing of all COLAs from 1999 to the present.

Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) | 2018 Federal FERS & CSRS Annuity Adjustments

 

[Warrenlm]

Really! Like anyone in the G fund is making any substantial coin. Even if they reduced it to Zero, I don't think the government would make a dent in the 20 million national debt. Yet, even the meager G return at least gives those folks SOMETHING. Serious misplaced attention. Don't they have anything better to go after?!?

SORRY!!! That should have been TRILLION, with a T (and 3 more decimal places!).

Don't stop! You're almost there!!