International Fund for Ireland -- $17 million annual savings.
Economic Assistance to Egypt -- $250 million annually.
* Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress. WHAT???
Background on Program or Item to Be Sunseted:
Under current practice, the Congress provides out of the U.S. Treasury, a death benefit equal to one year’s salary payable to the survivors of a Member who dies in office. Specifically, the Senate handbook says that upon the death of a senator who had been serving in office, “in the next appropriations bill, an item will be inserted for a gratuity to be paid to the widow(er) or other next- of-kin, in the amount of one-year’s compensation.”
Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees -- $1 billion total savings
Tax Delinquent Bill Aimed at Federal Workers
Passes House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
APWU Web News Article 045-2011, April 15, 2011
Anti-labor legislators are endorsing another measure aimed at federal employees — including postal workers. On April 13, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by Chairman Darryl Issa (R-CA), approved The Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act of 2011 [PDF], which would require the Postal Service and other federal agencies to terminate any employee who is delinquent in his or her federal taxes.
The bill would exempt workers on active military duty and employees who are making a “good faith” effort to pay their taxes.
Support for the bill, which was introduced by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) on Feb. 28, was split along party lines.
Democratic representatives deemed the measure unnecessary, as existing laws allow for garnishment procedures in cases of unpaid taxes. They also pointed out that terminating delinquent employees would be counterproductive, because it would deny the government any real opportunity to collect taxes from fired workers.
Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) offered an amendment that would have excluded postal workers from the measure because they are not paid with tax dollars. He also argued that any actions taken against postal workers would be subject to their collective bargaining process. Those arguments fell on deaf ears and the amendment was defeated by Republicans on the committee.
