The Washington Post covers President Obama's announcement today.
This made me laugh out loud:
The freeze applies to all Executive Branch workers -- including civilian employees of the Defense Department, but does not apply to military personnel, government contractors, postal workers, members of Congress, Congressional staffers, or federal court judges and workers.
Huh? Am I missing something? Postal workers and members of Congress get a pass? It seems to me, with the exception of the military, everyone working for the government should be on the receiving end of a pay freeze. What's the argument against it?
And, way more importantly, there should be a 100% freeze on hiring new government workers.
According to Mona Charen, writing in Politico last May, President Obama's "spending would result in a 14.5 increase in the number of federal employees in just two years." 2.15 million people currently work for the government, the first time that number has surpassed 2 million in more than a decade. (That does not include the 700,000+ Postal Service employees who are exempt from any fooling around with their paychecks, for what reason?) My guess is that very few of those hired will be subject to the pay-freeze. That would be bad politics...from the money-vote-power-money-vote-power point of view.
It's not just the cost of a ton of additional government salaries that hurts. It's the addition of an equal number of new benefits plans ~ generous beyond the imagination compared to what most people working in the private sector enjoy.
Certainly I don't need to replay SNL's skit about public service workers, too cruel for school, but President Obama's disingenuous political play today deserves a big dose of reality:
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