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 issues than Congressman Moran. The Congressman believes that the U.S. federal workforce is the greatest civil service in the world, providing critical government support and services for all Americans. Our workforce is the least corrupt, most educated civil service in the world. 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.
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 this 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.
On average, federal employees make 24 percent less than their private sector counterparts, with comparable education and experience. 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.
Recent successes include:
- 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.
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.
Many of the new voices in Congress have been vocal opponents of public sector employees and will continue to unfairly target our federal workforce. There have already been attempts to punitively freeze or cut employee pay and benefits in ways that could break it. During the Fiscal Year 2011 budget debates, Congressman Moran spoke out against amendments to prohibit pay raises or cost of living adjustments for any federal employee. Moran also introduced legislation to ensure that all federal employees receive retroactive pay in the event of a Federal Government shutdown.
Congressman Moran will continue to stand up for federal employees and ensure the Federal Government attracts the best and brightest to public service.