Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. WITTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I too would like to recognize the gentlemen from Virginia, Mr. Wolf and Mr. Moran, for their leadership in bringing this forward and for the leadership on both sides of the aisle. This is absolutely necessary.
I rise today in strong support of the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act. And I'm proud to be part of a bipartisan group of cosponsors to make sure that this is something that got done and is being done in the best interests of our great Federal workforce.
This bill should really be called the ``Pay Certainty Act'' because that's exactly what it will do, provide certainty for our Federal employees who, through no fault of their own, were told that they were not allowed to come to work effective October 1.
Our Nation's dedicated civil servants have already been asked to shoulder the burden of numerous efforts to reduce government spending. We all know that it is a shared sacrifice. But they don't expect to do it alone. And I've talked to many Federal employees who are willing to do their part. But like everyone else has said, they don't expect to shoulder these cuts alone.
These furloughs have had devastating impacts on people's lives, on the doctors and nurses at veterans hospitals who are responsible for taking care of the men and women who have faithfully served our Nation, on the law enforcement officers running down leads on terrorist threats and protecting our homeland, on the firefighters stationed at military installations around the globe, on our Capitol Police who protect your Congress and Capitol, and on the multitudes of other Federal employees who do a great job serving their Nation day in and day out. The only thing that they want is the ability to serve. And they have all done that in the greatest way possible. And for that, they have my deepest gratitude and sincere thanks, and I know they have the deepest gratitude and sincere thanks from all Members of this body. We deeply appreciate what they do for our Nation.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and to work together to get the work of the Nation done.
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