NATCA Bookshelf

FULL BACKGROUND ISSUE For the past eight years, legislators in both chambers of Congress have been trying to balance the federal budget in large part by making cuts to federal employees' pay and benefits. Such cuts have affected NATCA members. For the past two years, these attacks also have originated in the president's fiscal year budget proposals. Further, the U.S. House of Representatives has adopted new procedural and operating rules that make it easier to propose cuts to federal spending by reducing the number of government employees and their salaries. At a time when the FAA is at a 29-year low for certified professional controllers (CPCs), with over 1,800 of the approximately 10,500 CPCs eligible to retire today, any reduction in retirement benefits will cause air traffic controllers to retire early. A large wave of unanticipated retirements could cripple the NAS by exacerbating the current staffing crisis. MESSAGE FAA employees are essential to the safety and efficiency of the NAS, and Congress should not target FAA employees in an attempt to balance the federal budget. The FAA is at a 29-year low for CPCs. Of the 10,546 CPCs in the system as of the end of March 2018, 1,842 — 17.5 percent — are eligible to retire immediately. If these retirement- eligible CPCs know that their annuity will be reduced significantly if they choose to retire after October 1, 2018, the date when the Administration proposes to eliminate the Social Security annuity supplement, it will greatly incentivize retirement before that date. A large wave of unanticipated retirements could cripple the NAS by exacerbating the current staffing crisis. BACKGROUND Beginning in the fall of 2010, the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (also called the "Simpson-Bowles Commission") suggested reducing the federal budget through significant cuts to federal employees' pay and benefits. The final report became the framework for other anti-federal employee actions. In recent years, Congressional budget resolutions have been used to outline attacks on federal employees' pay and benefits. Likewise, the current Administration has been proposing such attacks since taking office. In 2017, the Office of Management and Budget Director sent a letter to all agency heads directing them to make major cuts in programs, and even directing them to consider ways to implement workforce reductions in order to make the government "lean, accountable, and more efficient." Since then, the proposed attacks have continued. RECENT THREATS TO FEDERAL EMPLOYEES Lawmakers have outlined attacks on federal employees' pay and benefits as part of their Congressional budget resolutions. While budget resolutions do not have the force of law, they lay the groundwork for the appropriations committees to allocate government funding. Most recently, the proposed House F Y 2018 budget resolution contained the elimination of the Social Security annuity supplement, which air traffic controllers receive, as an example of reforms to civil service pensions. Ultimately, elimination of the Social Security annuity supplement was not included in the final Congressional budget proposal. However, the Administration has been firm in its desire to eliminate the annuity supplement. As such, on May 4, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent a letter to Speaker Ryan that included legislative proposals for Congressional consideration that directly attack federal employee retirement in the following ways: continued on next page 35

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