Don’t Freeze Our Pay

Hello Congressmen,

I am one of those over paid federal employees that you talk about.  I am a father of 3, soon to be a father of 4.  Me and my wife are in a position that she either stays home or she works and everything she earns goes to a babysitter or daycare.  If I get a cut in my salary my family will be very close to being homeless or maybe homeless then we will be one of those families that needs federal assistance to survive.  How much do you think that will cost the government? Probably a lot more than my pay cut.  Your ideas that the private sector needs to pick up the slack is true but the fact of the matter is the private sector can’t be trusted to do this.  Every time we ask the private sector to pay a living wage they do just the opposite.  When are the Republicans going to help the working class (there is no middle class anymore because it was slowly been destroyed by economic policies of the last 30 years–most of which led by a conservative Congress or president).  I promise I will look up and find out who voted for this freeze and my goal is to help vote all of them out of office and have a new Congress in two years.  I would vote Obama out of office but his replacement would be worse for federal employees.  You complain about the increase of salaries and federal employees but who has been president more over the last 10 years – Republicans.  Who has been the only president to get a balanced deficit – a Democrat (Bill Clinton).  The debt is so high because of the Republicans.  Before Reagan took over a balanced budget was common.  Then he took over and the deficit went crazy.  Every time a conservative Congress takes over they conveniently forget this.  Don’t cut our pay – cut the defense budget which is 3 times higher than all other budgets combined.

David Rodriguez
AFGE Local 1089
Department of Veterans Affairs, Oregon