Repub Senator wants a hearing to examine whether federal employees are overpaid

Ask Sen. Ron Johnson about federal employee priorities and the first thing he talks about is his concern that the government’s deficit spending will reach $127 trillion over 30 years.

That’s the prism filtering the view of this first-term senator from Oshkosh, Wis., a tea party Republican and former plastics businessman. His views will be important to federal workers come January when Johnson takes over as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee — it oversees the workforce.

Johnson’s ascension to the chairmanship isn’t official yet, but he acknowledges it is a done deal.

“I think everybody agrees with that,” he said in an interview. “I’ve certainly been talking to everybody. .?.?. We’ve been kind of behind the scenes preparing for this eventuality, so nobody’s objected to it.”

Federal employees and their organizations, however, are sure to object to many of his positions on pay, benefits, unionization and the Postal Service. A number of his proposals are outlined in a report on deficit reduction he issued in 2011. Among those is the elimination of several agencies that deal directly with the federal workforce.


more

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/senate-chairman-to-be-will-rile-federal-workforce-with-controversial-views/2014/11/09/29f66d92-67a6-11e4-836c-83bc4f26eb67_story.html