Common Sense in Compensation Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am very disappointed that the Republican leadership is wasting the few days we have remaining before the August recess with political message bills like this one instead of dealing with the major challenges the American people want us to address.

The American people care about jobs. Let me say that again. The American people care about jobs. And the Democrats have introduced a Make It in America agenda that would create good-paying jobs by rebuilding America's infrastructure, investing in innovation and education, and reducing the deficit through a balanced approach.

But the Republican leadership apparently has chosen a No Jobs Agenda. It has been 7 months since the start of this Congress, and we have not passed a single jobs bill on the floor of this House. Instead, the Republican sequestration plan is expected to cost up to 1.6 million American jobs through next year.

The American people also want the Congress to pass a budget for our country. More than 4 months ago, both the Senate and the House passed their respective budgets, but the House Republicans are now refusing to appoint conferees to complete negotiations. For years, Republicans complained about not having a budget, yet now they are actively blocking it by refusing to negotiate with the Senate.

Rather than dealing with these critical issues, we're being asked to vote on H.R. 1541, which is one of many bills that are a part of a relentless campaign to demonize Federal employees.

H.R. 1541 would impose an arbitrary, across-the-board cap of 5 percent of basic pay on the amount of bonuses that Federal workers can receive and limit the number of senior executives who may receive performance awards to 33 percent of those eligible in each agency.

These employees carry out our critical missions that serve and protect the American people. Among these awards are Presidential Rank Awards for senior executives who saved the Federal Government more than $95 million last year, quality step increases for our highest Federal employee performers, awards to law enforcement officers for foreign language capabilities, and recruitment, retention, and relocation incentives to fill critical gaps in such fields as nursing, information technology, and cybersecurity.

I'm very concerned about the Federal Government's recruitment and retention efforts if Congress eliminates agency discretion to provide awards to our best performers.

In an analysis of the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government, the Partnership for Public Service and Deloitte found that only 4 out of 10 Federal workers believed they will be rewarded or promoted for doing a good job. This is the definition of counterproductive.

I don't understand how Republicans can call for pay for performance and then eliminate the very performance awards they said they supported.

Last Congress, our committee chairman, Representative Issa, and committee member Dennis Ross sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office proposing that we replace the Federal Government's General Schedule system with a ``merit-based, market-sensitive system that recognizes and rewards individual employee performance.''

How can we take such proposals seriously if we are being asked at the same time to slash the very awards that are supposed to incentivize performance? Of course, we cannot.

For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing H.R. 2579, and I reserve the balance of my time.

I ask unanimous consent for the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) to manage the balance of my time.

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