Van Hollen: Ryan Plans "Very Hostile to Federal Employees'

Press Release

As Paul Ryan prepares to accept the House speaker's gavel, a top Democrat who worked both beside and against him on federal budgets says the Wisconsin Republican's proposals are "very hostile to federal employees."

Before Ryan agreed to seek the top legislative post, he wrote House budgets during his four years as chairman of the Budget Committee. There, he viewed federal employees as a privileged class. Sitting next to him in the committee room was Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the panel's ranking Democrat whose suburban Maryland district is home to thousands of government workers.

While they were close on the dais, they are at opposite ends of the spectrum on the way the budget should treat folks who actually operate the government.

"Here's what we know," Van Hollen said in an interview. "We know that the Ryan budget is very hostile toward federal employees. It would dramatically cut their effective pay. The Ryan budgets have always looked to federal employees as a piggy bank to be used to reduce the deficit rather than as an important resource to provide services to the American people."

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