WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA) and Mark R. Warner (D-VA) are urging Majority Leader Harry Reid to ”reject any proposals that call for pay freezes or other forms of compensation reduction for federal workers, or significant reductions in the federal workforce” to offset the tax extenders that need to be passed by the end of this year.  Along with Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Carl Levin (D-MI), the Senators wrote to the Majority Leader on behalf of federal workers in Virginia who are currently in the middle of a two-year pay freeze.  

“To ask these hard-working individuals – the very people who keep our food supply safe, our borders secure and develop life-saving technologies – to make further sacrifices is simply unfair,” the Senators wrote. “Federal employees are facing the same challenges as other middle-class families during this difficult economic time. …  While we can all agree on the importance of job growth and deficit reduction, we cannot balance the budget on the backs of federal employees who carry out the business of the American people every day.”  

The full text of the letter follows and can be accessed here:

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