During a House Oversight Committee hearing last week, Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) spoke about a bill to protect supplemental retirement payments for federal workers.
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00:00Ms. Ansari, seek recognition.
00:02Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.
00:05Will the clerk please report the amendment?
00:08Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute to Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Reconciliation Committee Print,
00:12providing for reconciliation pursuant to House Concurrent Resolution 14, offered by Ms. Ansari of Arizona.
00:17Without objection, the amendment is considered as read. I reserve a point of order.
00:20The gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes to explain her amendment.
00:23Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:24This amendment is to strike Section 90002, which would eliminate supplemental retirement payments for the majority of federal employees who retire before age 62,
00:37even if they have served the American people for 25 years or more.
00:41This entire reconciliation print is a brazen attack on federal workers being used to fund billionaire tax cuts at the expense of working families.
00:51Retirement is already so out of reach for so many Americans,
00:55and one of the biggest reasons that people historically wanted to work for the federal government is because of the benefits.
01:04While the base pay may not be as high as the private sector,
01:08they knew that they were going to get the benefits that support their families,
01:12that they could retire one day, and that they had better protections against retaliation and wrongful termination.
01:18Now, Republicans are bowing down to President Trump and Elon Musk who want to completely dismantle and privatize the essential services that the federal government provides.
01:31We already struggle to recruit postal workers to get American families their mail on time.
01:37We have a nurse and doctor shortage at the VA, and yet Republicans are making it even harder to recruit these essential employees,
01:46cutting key benefits, slashing pay by increasing pension contributions,
01:51making it easier to fire employees for any reason,
01:55and making them pay a fee to appeal wrongful terminations.
02:00Making it less desirable to be a federal employee means that the most talented, hard-working Americans will seek employment elsewhere.
02:10It means we will no longer be competitive to hire the high-quality talent we need to modernize our IT systems to make them run better for Americans who use them,
02:21something that we just had a subcommittee hearing about yesterday.
02:24Most importantly, gutting the federal government and chasing away that talent pool will result in a poor quality of services provided for our veterans,
02:34for our seniors, and for our families.
02:36All of this just to cut taxes for the ultra-wealthy while still increasing the federal debt.
02:44I'll yield back to the ranking member.
02:46I thank the gentlelady.
02:51This amendment is well stated.
02:54The generallady from Arizona has identified an adverse result of the bill as is currently written.
03:04Up to now, the law has been where an employee who is separating from federal employment prior to the age of 62 would have,
03:18and who is eligible for Social Security would have a supplemental payment to bridge that gap until they can actually collect Social Security at their full retirement age of 62.
03:33So, this leaves people in a position where they would either have to, you know, hang in there for a number more years, you know, just for the fact that there would be a severe penalty from doing otherwise.
03:49And, you know, that's not an ideal situation.
03:53These are employees who are in government service for 20 to 25 years that are in this situation, and, you know, it's just one more aspect of this that we are making it less attractive to get the talent and the commitment that the generallady from Arizona is identifying.
04:16So, with that, I will yield to any other member on the Democratic side that wishes to speak, otherwise I yield back.
04:23The gentleman yields back.
04:25Any other members seek recognition?
04:26Seeing none.
04:27The question is now on the Ansari amendment.
04:29All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:30All those opposed, no.
04:31No.
04:32No.
04:33In the opinion of the Chair, the no's have it.
04:34The amendment is not agreed to.
04:35Do you want to accord a vote?
04:36All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:37All those opposed, no.
04:38No.
04:39In the opinion of the Chair, the no's have it.
04:41The amendment is not agreed to.
04:42Do you want to accord a vote?
04:43Accord a vote is ordered.
04:45All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:46All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:47All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:48All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:49All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:50All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:51All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:52All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:53All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:54All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:55All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:56All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:57All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:58All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
04:59All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
05:00All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
05:01All those in favor, signify by saying aye.