Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

Floor Speech

FAMILY SMOKING PREVENTION AND TOBACCO CONTROL ACT -- (Senate - June 08, 2009)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I rise as a cosponsor of a bipartisan amendment that will provide targeted reforms to the Federal Employee Retirement System in order to be more effective and equitable for our past, current, and future Federal employees. I am joining Senators Lieberman, Akaka, and Voinovich in this effort.

First, I would like to highlight a provision that I was pleased to introduce earlier this year as a bipartisan stand-alone measure with Senators Voinovich, Kohl, and McCaskill.

This portion of the amendment would establish a 5-year pilot project allowing agencies to hire back Federal retirees for a limited period of time without having to offset their salaries by the amount of their annuities. This will strengthen the Federal Government's ability to serve the public, particularly at a time when agencies face a wave of retirement of highly experienced employees and there exists a critical need for these skilled employees.

Across the government, our agencies face a host of challenging missions that require focused leadership and vigilant oversight. In Afghanistan, our government faces an increasing demand for development experts. As the government implements the Recovery Act, experienced auditors are in high demand to ensure funds are spent wisely.

On average, however, retirements from the Federal workforce have exceeded 50,000 a year for a decade. The numbers will certainly rise in the near future. The Office of Personnel Management calculates that 60 percent of the current Federal workforce, whose civilian component approaches 3 million people, will be eligible to retire during the coming 10 years.

This baby boom retirement wave will have another impact. It will cause a sudden acceleration in the loss of accumulated skills and mentoring capabilities that experienced workers possess.

The amendment we offer today would provide a limited, but vital, measure of relief to agencies who could benefit from the skills, knowledge, and productivity of federal retirees. It provides an opportunity for Federal agencies to reemploy retirees without requiring them to take pay cuts based on the amount of their annuity payment.

With some exceptions, retirees can currently return to work without having their salaries reduced only if OPM grants a waiver for the reemployment. This creates a disincentive for experienced Federal retirees to return to Federal service--preventing their knowledge and experience from filling critical agency needs.

The cumbersome waiver process also dissuades agencies from considering annuitants when evaluating their overall workforce strategy.

Congress has already provided exceptions to this rule. Both GAO and the Department of Defense have utilized this authority to rehire skilled annuitants to meet important mission requirements.

Other agencies, especially those charged with overseeing the stimulus and TARP funds, need the same ability to hire back experienced workers. Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro has indicated that the ability to reemploy annuitants without salary offset is a critical authority that GAO uses whenever a surge in staffing is necessary.

This amendment would grant the opportunity for Federal agencies, on a limited basis, to reemploy retirees without requiring them to take pay cuts based on their annuity payment or to wait for OPM to grant a waiver.

While providing needed flexibility for agencies to meet mission critical responsibilities, the amendment would also strictly prescribe the periods of time for which retirees can be rehired, thereby preventing agencies from relying solely on retirees instead of hiring a new crop of employees to fill the ranks behind our seasoned employees as they retire.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, this provision will not cost the Federal Government any additional money. The returning annuitants' health and life insurance benefits would be unaffected by their part-time work, and the government would not need to make any additional contributions to the annuitant's retirement plan. Thus, even without making any allowance for the positive effects of these returning employees' organizational knowledge, commitment, productivity, and mentoring potential, their reemployment may actually produce a net savings for taxpayers.

This reform would also provide some much needed hiring flexibilities for agencies, given the expertise the Federal Government will need to effectively implement and oversee the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Chair of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, in testimony before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, agreed with this point, and the council has sent a letter endorsing this authority.

The ability to rehire Federal retirees would also help strengthen the Federal acquisition workforce. The Federal Government has entered the 21st century with 22 percent fewer Federal civilian acquisition personnel than it had at the start of the 1990s. Moreover, as early as 2012, 50 percent of the entire Federal acquisition workforce will be eligible to retire. This amendment will help shore up this workforce at a critical time.

The bill I originally introduced with this provision has been endorsed by the Partnership for Public Service, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, Federally Employed Women, the Government Managers Coalition, and the National Council on Aging.

Beyond this provision, the amendment also corrects an inequity between the two Federal retirement systems--FERS and CSRS. Current law compensates CSRS employees at the time of their retirement for the unused portion of the sick leave that they accrued over the course of their Federal careers. Employees under FERS are not provided similar compensation. This creates an unfair disparity within the Federal workforce which this amendment would rectify.

This amendment includes many provisions that would help to strengthen the Federal workforce, attracting highly skilled and talented employees at a time when they are desperately needed. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source