Federal workers receive retirement benefits through what’s known as the Federal Employees Retirement System, or FERS. The GOP measure would force new federal employees to pay a whopping 5% surcharge — bringing their FERS contribution to 9.4% of their pay — unless they agree to become an “at-will” employee. And therefore the budget savings from the measure — that is, the whole reason it’s supposedly in a tax bill — would end up being quite small. While it may be tucked into a tax package, the policy fits neatly into the Trump administration’s broader attacks on federal workers and labor groups. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is one of the few Republicans who’ve openly pushed back against Trump’s attacks on federal employees.

Source: Huffington Post May 23, 2025 07:39 UTC