White House Announces Pay Freeze For Federal Workers

President Barack Obama today announced a two-year pay freeze for some federal civilian employees that he said will save taxpayers as much as $60 billion over the next ten years.

The announcement came just days before Obama’s bipartisan fiscal commission will release its report on how to reduce the nation’s burgeoning debt, currently approaching nearly $14 trillion. In a preliminary draft issued two weeks ago, the commission’s co-chairs recommended freezing federal employees’ pay and benefits for three years.

The proposed freeze would apply to non-military federal employees, and would last through 2012. Officials estimate that it would save nearly $28 billion over the next five years, and roughly $60 billion by 2020.

“Small businesses and families are tightening their belts,” Obama said. “Their government should, too.”

In a conference call with reporters on Monday, White House Deputy Office of Management and Budget Director Jeffrey Zients insisted that the announcement was not timed to coincide with the commission’s report.

“We’re acting today because the President needs to send by Tuesday to the Hill locality pay for 2011, and we’re also at the point in the budget process where we need to decide on 2012 compensation.”

The proposal would not make federal workers ineligible for promotions, which allow them to advance along the government’s pay scale. Rather, the levels of compensation at each scale would be suspended. According to the Washington Post, federal judges and other federal court employees would not be subject to the freeze.