Cartwright Applauds Inclusion of His Legislation in Appropriations Bill; Will Provide Pay Raise to 1,809 Blue-Collar Federal Workers at Tobyhanna Army Depot

Statement

Washington -- Today, U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright released the following statement after the release of the fiscal year 2014 consolidated appropriations bill. The bill meets the terms set by the Ryan-Murray budget agreement, providing $1.012 trillion for the operation of the federal government and avoiding a government shutdown:

"I am thrilled that this appropriations bill has adopted the language from the Wage Grade Employee Parity Act, which I introduced in November. The legislation and its inclusion provides 1,809 Wage Grade (WG) employees at Tobyhanna Army Depot and nearly a quarter million blue-collar federal workers across the country a 1% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).

"This year, the President was able to provide a 1% COLA for General Schedule (GS), or salaried, federal employees; however, he did not have the statutory authority to provide the same COLA to all federal workers. At the beginning of this year WG employees' wages stayed the same thus creating a greater disparity between the wages of WG employees and GS employees.

"I'd like to thank Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma and Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas with whom I have worked to provide hourly federal workers the same pay adjustment as their salaried co-workers. I'd also like to thank House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, House Appropriations Ranking Member Nita Lowey, and Senate Appropriations Ranking Member Richard Shelby for including my legislation and recognizing the important contributions of our blue-collar federal workers."

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