Federal News Radio | The president’s planned pay freeze for civilian federal employees next year is earning more criticism from some members Congress. House Democrats in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia said they’re rejecting the president’s plans to cancel a statutorily-set 2.1 percent pay raise for civilian employees in 2019. They’re urging congressional leadership to at least take on the Senate’s proposed 1.9 percent pay raise next year. A delegation of Democrats from the Washi...
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ARL Now | Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) is no fan of Trump administration, but the president’s decision today (Thursday) to stop pay raises for civilian federal employees is hitting a particular nerve for Arlington’s local congressman. Click here to read the full article
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Rep. Beyer issued the following statement today on President Trump’s announcement that he would halt pay raises for civilian federal employees, which were due to take effect in the coming year: “President Trump’s decision to deny pay raises is a slap in the face to the hardworking civil servants who help keep us safe, care for our veterans, and faithfully serve the American people. No one will believe his dishonest justification of a ‘national emergency or serious economic conditions,’ which is ...
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This week the Inspector General (IG) of the General Services Investigation (GSA) issued a report which found that, despite previous denials, President Trump was personally involved in the decision to overturn years of planning for the relocation of the FBI headquarters. That decision has a significant impact on Trump’s financial interests, given the proximity of the current headquarters to the Trump International Hotel. The report also found that Administration officials misled Congress and refu...
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Think Progress | The decision marked another recent triumph for unions after many years of bad news from the Supreme Court and numerous states like Wisconsin. Missouri voters handed a resounding defeat to an anti-union law in a referendum earlier this month. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) praised the ruling, which he said “shut down some of Trump’s harshest attacks on federal workers.” Click here to read the full article
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Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME: “This terrible ruling continues decades of Republican attacks on workers’ right to organize. The thousands of civil servants, teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public-sector employees I represent will see their collective bargaining power significantly weakened by this decision. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court’s majority has spent the month of June concentrating power in th...
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Government Executive A group of congressional Democrats on Tuesday asked a Justice Department watchdog to investigate allegations that the department improperly considered job candidates’ political views during the hiring process. In a letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, eight Democratic lawmakers highlighted whistleblower accounts that prospective agency employees had job offers delayed or rescinded with “explanations that suggest a pretext for improper political mo...
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“As President Trump’s first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson was handed a difficult job which he performed poorly. He presided over an unprecedented evisceration of the State Department, often seemed out of the loop, and was, at best, incidental to the formulation of U.S. foreign policy. The damage caused by Tillerson’s brief, tumultuous tenure will take years to repair, and he will be remembered as another example of President Trump’s poor judgment. “It is my hope that the next Secretary of St...
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“My decision to vote against the budget caps bill early this morning was not an easy one. This bill contained many things that are very good for the country. These funding levels represent a major victory after five years of work to end budget sequestration. Our region’s economy stands to benefit substantially from ending this arbitrary and destructive policy, and I wish Republicans had allowed it to happen years ago. After months of fighting for a budget that provides long-term certainty for de...
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Legislative language mirroring a bill offered by Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA) and Rob Wittman (R-VA) to protect the pay of federal workers during the government shutdown was passed by Congress today as part of a larger temporary funding bill. The inclusion of text of the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act will guarantee that the entire federal workforce receives back pay for the time during which appropriations lapsed. “It is deeply disappointing that Congress was unable to prevent a govern...
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