Congresswoman Shea-Porter Votes Against Blocking .5% Pay Raise for Federal Employees

Statement

Today, Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter voted against H.R. 273, which would target middle-class federal employees once again by freezing their salaries for the third consecutive year. Federal employees have already contributed $103 billion towards deficit reduction. H.R. 273 linked freezing federal employee pay with freezing Congressional Member pay. Democrats tried to make H.R. 273 two separate votes, but Republican leaders refused to allow one vote to freeze Congressional pay and one vote to freeze federal employee pay.

"Today, House Leadership put a bill on the floor to freeze the pay of hard-working middle class federal workers for the third year in a row, and tried to get Members of Congress to join them by adding Member pay to the bill. I have in the past voted against and would continue to vote against raising my own pay, which is excellent, but I will not vote against a modest pay raise for middle class federal workers--about $5 a week for a worker earning $50,000 a year. Leadership should concentrate on closing loopholes and reforming the tax code instead of shrinking middle class wages," said Congresswoman Shea-Porter.

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