Hoyer Remarks in Opposition to House Republicans' Partisan Bill Targeting Federal Employees

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) spoke on the House Floor this afternoon in opposition to House Republicans' partisan bill that targets federal employees, which failed under suspension of the rules this evening. Below is a transcript of his remarks and a link to the video.

Click here to watch the video.

"The [Oversight and Government Reform Committee] Ranking Member [Elijah Cummings] said this was a bill to solve a nonexistent problem. Everybody ought to pay their taxes. Everybody. Everybody ought to pay their taxes.

"Now, if you're really rich, you can find an accountant who can find you about every loophole that there is that we've given. We don't have a bill on the Floor to close loopholes. The Chairman admits that federal employees pay their taxes– voluntarily and correctly – at a higher percentage than the general public. Should every one of them? Should it be 100%? The Chairman is right: it should be 100%.

"The Gentleman from North Carolina talks about our federal employees, and they ought to be treated correctly. We're their Board of Directors. I will tell you, folks, if any Board of Directors of any large corporation treated its employees the way we treat them, they'd all quit, and the company would go bankrupt, because we treat our federal employees very poorly, very poorly. And the general public, of course, thinks they're loafing, and they're not working hard, and this, that, and the other. And that's wrong.

"We have the best civil service in the world, and this [bill] does convey the message that, somehow, you're not doing what you're supposed to do. And I know the Gentleman gets up and says: this is a very small percentage. And when a Member of Congress doesn't pay his taxes, and he gets indicted, and he has to quit this body, it besmirches all of us.

"The Gentleman from Maryland is absolutely correct. It has not been mentioned, but there is a provision in law that allows the I.R.S. to go in and take the salary of federal employees. That's what the Gentleman's talking about. Unlike the private sector, where you have to go through a lot of rigmarole, properly so, to protect the taxpayer, the federal employee is subjected to the I.R.S. having special authority, going in and taking part of their salary.

"Now, by the way, this [bill] mentions federal employees. I don't know whether the Ranking Member knows the answer to this, but are Members of Congress included in that definition?  The answer – the Gentleman is shaking his head, saying no.  Yet, the Congress as an institution has a lower rate of paying – some 95% as opposed to 97%, federal employees.

"What is this all about?  This is about, frankly, saying government is bad and the people who work for it aren't so hot either. I don't think the Gentleman from Utah [Chairman Jason Chaffetz] thinks that's the message. I understand that. The Gentleman is my friend. I like him. He's a bright and able fellow. But that's the message we're sending. And it's a bad message. And if federal employees – I will tell you, I represent 62,000 federal employees. And I tell all of them and all the unions, if they're not performing their job, if they're watching television four hours a day, they ought to be fired, and I will support the Gentleman in that effort, because we ought to demand performance. And that's why we have in the I.R.S. code [that] you can take the salary if they're not paying their taxes. That's not true of any other employee in America. You got to go through a legal process, etc., etc., etc., as you should.

"So I would urge my colleagues to defeat this bill, as we did in the last Congress – on suspension. And, yes, tell all of our employees: you need to pay your taxes. And make sure if they don't, the I.R.S. gets their fees, and, if they're not performing their task and it undermines their performance, then we ought to subject them, just as every other employee, to being removed.  But not simply to say, arbitrarily, this employee, these employees, our employees, America's employees, will be treated more harshly than the American people and the American workers around this country are treated. Treat them the same. That's fair.  That's what they hoped for.

"We shut down government for sixteen days. Sent our employees home. The Gentleman from North Carolina talked about [how] there are some bad circumstances for some people. They have to pay a mortgage payment or a rent payment or a car payment or a college tuition, and we sent them home and we said: we're not paying you. And we came back later and we said: oh, no, we're going to pay you. But we caused them a great deal of angst.

"I will tell you this: that's not the way to treat people, and we didn't send them home because we didn't have the money to pay for them. We didn't send them home because America was bankrupt.  We sent them home because we disagreed with a policy the President was pursuing.  Or [Republicans] wanted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, over which they had no control.  But we sent them home without pay, and, very frankly, those who were critical employees we kept working, but we didn't pay them. What way is that to run any organization, much less the greatest country on the face of the Earth?

"I urge my colleagues: show respect and fairness to those who work for our country in the civil service of our country. Reject this legislation. Vote ‘no.' I yield back the balance of my time."