To Commemorate Public Service Recognition Week, Norton Announces She Will Introduce Resolution to Honor Federal Workers

Press Release

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that when the House returns from recess next week, she will introduce a resolution to applaud federal employees for their work through times of war and peace, recession and prosperity, and global instability and uncertainty. Norton said federal workers have faced unprecedented attacks from Republicans in Congress in the past several years, including three years of frozen pay, sequestration, furloughs, increased retirement contributions, and proposed cuts in the fiscal year 2016 House-Senate budget. This week (May 3-9) is Public Service Recognition Week.

"The federal workforce has been Congress' punching bag for far too long, and it is important to publically let our workers know how much we appreciate their civil service to our nation," Norton said. "Our nation depends on a strong, committed and diverse federal workforce. Congress must stop putting workers' jobs, salaries and benefits on the chopping block just to serve their political interests."

The Norton resolution lays out the many missions of federal employees that are indispensable to the delivery of critical services by the federal government. It commends their significant increases in productivity, even as more responsibilities have been placed on each federal employee in light of freezes on filling vacancies and annual pay increases. The resolution points to the higher average levels of education of federal workers compared with private-sector workers, and to federal employee efforts that have resulted in medical discoveries, improved health, and other scientific advances, from space exploration to biological discoveries in oceans.

The resolution begins by noting that thousands of civilian federal employees have given their lives in the line of duty for their country and that their families now receive United States flags in their honor pursuant to bipartisan legislation. The resolution is almost entirely about the many functions, increased productivity, and important benefits that federal employees bring to the American people. However, it ends by stating federal employees' salaries and benefits should not be uniquely targeted for deficit reduction.

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