Federal Employees

Northern Virginia is home to more than 65,000 federal employees and where more than 110,000 federal employees work. There is no stronger advocate for their interests than Congressman Moran. The Congressman believes that the U.S. federal workforce is the most efficient and least corrupt civil service in the world, providing critical government support and services for all Americans. Throughout his time in Congress, Moran has fought to promote and protect the federal civil service while helping it adapt to the new challenges our government faces in the 21st Century.

Reforms for an Aging Workforce:
As a member of the National Capital Region delegation, Congressman Moran works closely with Congressmen and women from Virginia, D.C. and Maryland to represent the interests of the federal workforce. OPM estimated that by 2014, approximately 53 percent of permanent full-time federal employees will be eligible to retire, and approximately 57 percent of that group--or more than 30 percent of all permanent full-time employees--will actually retire.

In the face of the upcoming wave of retirements, the federal government must be able to recruit and retain high-performing personnel. To that end, Congressman Moran and Congressman Gerry Connolly introduced the 2011 Federal Internship Improvement Act, H.R. 914, to improve the federal internship program and recruit interns to full-time civil service.

Fair Pay for Civil Servants:
The Congressman has long fought for pay parity between the uniformed military and our civil servants.  Every day our nation sends civilians into harm’s way alongside our service members, in particular those dedicated workers in the fields of intelligence, diplomacy and law enforcement.  The Congressman believes our civil servants deserve the same annual pay raise given to our uniformed military.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on average, federal employees make 26 percent less than their private sector counterparts, with comparable education and experience, a margin that has increased in recent years. Though the private sector will likely always outpace the public sector in terms of wages and benefits, Congressman Moran has led the charge to make the federal workforce competitive with private employers' compensation packages.

To that end, the Congressman has strongly opposed the President’s two year pay freeze for 2011 and 2012, and has vocally rejected attempts by Congressional Republicans to erode federal employee pay and benefits. In the 112th Congress, the majority party passed legislation eliminating the FERS Supplement, increasing FERS contributions for current employees and new hires and bills to cut up to ten percent of the workforce through attrition. Moran opposed every  one of those efforts.

In the 113th Congress, the majority party will continue their efforts to undermine the civil service, as evidenced by already introduced bills to extend the federal employee pay freeze into 2013, and Moran will continue to fight for federal employees.

To date, middle-class federal workers have contributed $103 billion, nearly $50,000 per person, toward deficit reduction through pay freezes and changes to retirement benefits, more than any other group of Americans. Moran believes it is time for others to pay their fair share.   

Recent Legislative Successes:

• A provision signed into law on October 28, 2009, to allow Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) employees to use their unused, accumulated sick leave in the computation of annuities upon retirement.  
• Legislation to allow Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) workers to phase-down to part-time status at the end of their careers without reducing their final annuities/pensions. This bill was signed into law on October 28, 2009.
• A bill signed into law on October 28, 2009 to allow returning FERS employees, who earlier left the federal service but later rejoined, to repay a deposit to the civil service trust fund, with interest, allowing them to combine their past and current federal service for future annuity credit purposes.

Other Legislative Efforts:

• H.R. 819, the Government Shutdown Fairness Act;
• H.R. 1429, the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act;
• H.R. 1492, the Federal Supervisor Training Act of 2011;
• H.R. 3028, the Federal Employees Leave Transfer Act of 2011; and
• H.R. 6042, the Senior Executive Service Reform Act of 2012.