Mullin Votes to Stop Automatic Across-the-Board Pay Increases for Federal Employees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington D.C. – February 15th 2013 – Today the House of Representatives passed H.R. 273, a bill that would eliminate the 2013 statutory pay increase for Congress, the Executive Branch and other federal employees. The bill passed with a vote of 261 – 154.

H.R. 273 is a direct response to an Executive Order issued by President Obama on December 27th, 2012 that provided automatic across-the-board pay raises for federal civilian employees. The order would raise the salaries of the Vice President, Cabinet Secretaries and other federal employees by 0.5%.

“The President’s action from late last year is an example of how out of touch he is with reality and how he has lost sight of the big picture,” Mullin said. “With $16 trillion of debt we need to be looking for ways to cut government spending, not increase it.”

H.R. 273 was sponsored by Congressman Ron DeSantis (FL-06) and was cosponsored by Congressman Markwayne Mullin and other legislators. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) preliminary report estimated that the bill’s effect would decrease spending by $11.9 billion over ten years.

“The federal government spends $1 trillion more than it takes in each year, the President has failed to submit his budget on time for the fourth time in the last five years and we recently learned that the economy shrank for the first time in more than three years.” Mullin added. “It is frustrating for Oklahomans who have to make sacrifices and live within a budget to watch their federal government spend money as if it is an unlimited resource.”

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Contact: Tim Ross 202-664-4773, tim.ross@mail.house.gov
or Angie Gallant 918-351-8700, angie.gallant@mail.house.gov