The massive change hidden in the republican tax invoice that nobody speaks of

President Donald Trump’s long dream to protect loyalties in the federal bureaucracy and shoot any perceived enemy approached reality even more on Thursday, when the Republicans of the House of Representatives approved a massive tax and expenses.

He A great billwhich approved 215-214, cuts $ 1 billion in federal health and food programs while added almost $ 4 billion in tax cuts were mainly addressed to the rich. But it also includes a little noted provision that would force new federal employees to renounce traditional labor protections or take a significant cut to their compensation.

If the measure survives in any package that passes the Senate controlled by the Republican Party, the unions warn that the federal workforce could convert into a botin system of the old school.

“It is a great policy change disguised as a small budget disposition,” said Daniel Horowitz, legislative director of the American Federation of Government employees, a union that represents more than 800,000 workers.

“Inclinates civil service.”

And he does it in a cunning way.

Federal workers receive retirement benefits through what is known as the Federal Employee Retirement Systemor fers. Retirees are paid an annuity based on their duration, financed through contributions from employees and their agencies. Current workers chain a certain percentage of their Payment check in Fers, either 0.8% or 4.4%, depending on when they were hired, and the government covers the rest.

The measure of the Republican Party would force the new federal employees to pay a huge 5% surcharge, contributing their contribution of FERS to 9.4% of their salary, unless they agree to become an employee of “at will.” That means that they would renounce their right to appeal their termination, except in particular cases such as racial discrimination.

“It is a great policy change disguised as a small budgetary provision. It includes civil service.”

– Daniel Horowitz, American Federation of Government employees

The average salary of a new federal worker who enters the FERS system is around $ 71,000, according to the Congress Budget Office, the agency within the Congress that analyzed the bill of the Republican party. Therefore, the typical worker would have to give up $ 3,500 a year only to have labor protections that have long been standard.

Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees, a union that represents 100,000 workers, said the policy equals a “bribe.”

“Another way of seeing it is criminal extortion,” he said. “They say: ‘We will charge you more … if you choose to access the laws that are in the books.'”

He suspects that most workers would choose to have more money in their payment checks, despite the fact that “they would lose all their protections to inform waste, fraud and abuse.”

In fact, the budget office estimates that only a quarter of the new hiring would sacrifice 5% of its salary to maintain their civil service rights. And, therefore, the budget savings of the measure, that is, all the reason why it is supposedly on a tax bill, would end up being quite small.

Kevin Dietsch through Getty Images

CBO considers that policy would increase revenues by just $ 4.7 billion in 10 years. In comparison, the Republican bill cuts almost $ 700 billion of Medicaid, the medical care program for the poor, during the same period.

Horowitz said that the few savings betray the real intention of politics: to make the federal government a workforce at will in which employees can be fired for any reason.

“With a small disposition here, they are basically undoing the entire title 5,” he said, referring to the part of the US Code that describes federal labor protections. “There are 150 years of civil service rules that are being launched here and annulled.”

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The White House has tried to close unilaterally to federal agencies, finish tens of thousands of employees on probation, carry out mass layoffs through “in force” and strip the rights of collective bar of up to one million workers. He also expects to reclassify thousands of public officials as appointed politicians “at will” through their Programming scheme F.

“Another way of seeing it is criminal extortion. They say: ‘We will charge you more … if you choose to access the laws that are in the books'”.

– Steve Lenkart, National Federation of Federal Employees

Federal unions are an obstacle to all these objectives, and the measure of the Republican party tax could be a way of weakening them forever.

Unions in the federal sector cannot negotiate directly on salary and benefits, but they can provide good job security by allowing workers to appeal what they believe are unfair terminations. If workers renounce their right to due process, there would be fewer reasons for a union to join first. Therefore, politics at will could help with the objective of the Republican party for a long time to reduce the membership of federal unions.

Matt Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, said the Trump administration seems determined to “convert the federal sector into Walmart.”

“This idea of ​​forcing federal workers to pay or being ‘at will’ is illegal and outrageous,” said Biggs, whose union represents NASA workers and other agencies.

But it is not clear that the measure passes through the Senate, where some Republicans have expressed concern about certain pieces of the Chamber’s bill. Republicans have 53 seats and have a narrow path to approve tax review. Winning on the most moderate members will be essential to take the legislation to Trump’s desk.

Lenkart expects the disposition to die in the Senate, which tends to be “a bit quieter in the skull” than the camera, he said. But it was reluctant to make any prediction.

Senator Lisa Murkowski is one of the few republicans who have openly rejected Trump’s attacks against federal employees. His native state of Alaska is especially vulnerable to the cuts to the Federal Labor. He requested his opinion on the willingness at will in the bill of the Republican Party, Murkowski said only that he had been monitoring him.

“I have not looked to see how it really landed,” he told News themezone on Thursday, referring to the changes in the last minutes that the Republicans made to his bill. “It’s something we were paying for. So I’m going to take a look at that.”

Arthur Delaney contributed to informing this story.