Better yet. Create a bill to make governmental waste a punishable offense.

Most of them don't depend on their salaries - they depend on payment from lobby groups.

Pay cut or pay freeze - it won't make any difference. They will just get the lobbyist to make up the shortfall.

Every government program should have to go to a zero based budget. If the program can't justify its costs, it is canceled. At least $1.4 trillion needs to be trimmed from the federal budget this year.

I had to accept a 2 week furlough to keep my job in 2009, and a 6 percent permanent pay cut in 2010. Government employees should be asked to sacrifice at least as much. Every government employee should have to take a 6% pay cut, and every government department should have to reduce its expenditures by 10% as a start. Then a serious meat axe needs to be wielded to eliminate programs in order to get costs down to what we can afford as a nation.

What a joke. They're already overpaid by half so freezing at this level is locking in these obscenly bloated salaries. And , not giving bonuses is not to be applauded since they've done nothing to deserve any. Just more efforts at smoke and mirrors to try deceive the public as to their true colors and intentions.

How about Obama cut back on his weekly 'Date Night' spending? Or how about the wild parties, concerts, etc. he has in the white house every week? Fewer vacations? Fewer trips on Air Force one? Maybe the Obama clan could all travel together when they decide to fly to Paris, seperately, for dinner?

How about layoffs like the rest of us. Their salaries are already inflated, the damage is done. This is a bait and switch position, a distraction, they think we are stupid. This will be called the Obamanation decade.

What about Congress????????????????

Wonderful con job here. He raises these folks salaries big time than announces a freeze.

I'm crying tears of joy now that Obama will reduce the size of government by .000045%.

I'm also crying with great joy over the fact that the 4 million in savings will be directed towards a 4 million tax cut.

Obama, you are the greatest!

When was the last time they got a pay cut, how about lay off? When will government start reducing the gloat like all businesses must do when times are challenging? These politicians are so out of touch with how the rest of us must live. Special interest groups and entrenched government employees are the problem. Cut them out and reduce the size of the bloat not just window dress the problem.

uh Freeze their salaries? Will this be done after their pay raises and bonuses or after?

How about firing them? How about cutting their pay in half until they do their jobs?

The freezes in this article refer to political appointees and staff. They are not the ones who approve spending or create the budget. This does not include senators and congressmen.

The best way to balance the budget is to cut out welfare except for the mentally and physically impaired. If you can have a baby or father a baby you are healthy enough to work.

Now extend the freeze to the ENTIRE Federal govt. Then enact a pay cut comparable to the pay cut those of us who are still blessed with employment had to take. (My paycut was 15%) Also, put 10% of the govt. workforce on the unemployment line. Then we'll take you seriously.

Took the words right out of my mouth, Too little to late. You had your chance to do the right thing, now you Democrats see you might get tossed out on you're asses, suddenly your worried about the common man? Please! You should have done that, after Congress took their raises, while you tell the American People to tighten up "our" belts, hypocrites!Try being honest,? Maybe that will work?

Ummmm..you do realize that Bush was termed out. He didn't exactly "walk away" from the mess. He was in office, however, for the two years that the Dems were in control of Congress. When exactly did the country start going downhill?

SJC - exactly!!!
Mr Bush walked away so relieved to leave behind his MESS!!! I would love to do that. I can't finish my job so I will just leave it to the next guy to take all the blame!!!

You anti-Bush folks again missed the train..It was a Demonrat Congress that created the nightmare..Bush does not create the Budget, you buddies Pelosi and Reid did..so stop the Bush bashing and go back into the closet..

Yes, lets just get rid of the Federal Government. Let the States do it all. Oh, this would mean the end to the UNITED States if all were independent. We will need a visa to visit the other States. We could also get rid of the State Government and let each town govern. AH, the good old days.

That freeze affected White House staff earning more than $100,000 a year

And while you're at it, how about getting rid of the 20+ staffers that work for "the great pretender's" wife. I can't figure out why she needs some many people working for her when all she does is stand there next to her husband and try to look good.

How about salary cuts across the board?
I had to take a 15% cut last year and I make less than any of them. Especially our congresspeople. Yet they voted themselves a raise.

Ido - you forgot about obama's Hollywood parties.

Joe,

The Federal Government can get away with it because a large percentage of it is unionized. A lot like California's state employees are. Don't expect anything like that as long as their union is there.

Joe even the union employee in California state departments except for the CHP took a 15% cut.

I tried to post this earlier but Newsvine locked up :) First, GS workers, grades 1-15, don't make anymore than their civilian counterparts and, they do pay taxes on their wages so in effect, government employees actually pay a part of their own salary.

I have a better idea...let's reduce the Presidential salary to say, $250,000 for three years. Granted, the President has to pay for his own food and other generic personal items, however, he gets free board for his entire family, free transportation and free healthcare for the entire family. With all that, $250K should be more than enough for a family of four. After all, he IS, for all intents and purposes, a "public servant" and everyone knows public work doesn't pay (or usually doesn't) all that well.

More Money
In addition to his salary, the President gets numerous expense accounts including:

General account ($50000)

Official expenses of the White House office

Entertainment expenses

Separate entertainment expenses for official presidential functions

Traveling expenses for the president and anyone traveling with him (above and beyond the free limo, helicopter, and airplane rides)

In addition there is an account designated for "unanticipated needs" which is not to exceed $1 million per year. These unanticipated needs include anything for the furtherance of the national interest, security, or defense, including personnel needs and needs for services. Basically if the President is over-quota for anything listed above, he can dip into this money.

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1478184

Cut congressional salaries to $100,000 for three years or at the very least, deny congressional raises for at least three years. Congress wouldn't give social security a COLA this year, why should congress get one? (and yes I know they vote on traises a few years in advance, but, they COULD volunteer to release those raises at anytime).

As Sen Bayh ws saying yesterday when he and Sen McCain were explaining the new strategy of freezing spending (rebroadcast on C-SPAN this morning)..."the people have to pay for things. We need to cut earmarks no matter how worthy and decrease spending until we have a balanced budget." Nowhere in the speech, however, did I hear any proposal for congress to give up any pay raises.

Actually, according to the US Code, white house staffers are "limited" to pay no higher than a GS-16 (Now senior executive staff) according to the GS schedule. A GS-15 step 10, which is the highest scale for "workers" pays roughly 130,000. The senior executive schedule shows those white house aids could be paid anywhere from $120K to $180K per year.

http://www.opm.gov/oca/10tables/html/es.asp

Thank you for posting. Most people don't realize that people in the federal government, including military (and Congress for that matter) pay taxes that help pay their own salary.

Actually I think I read that Congress voted last year to get annual raises without having to vote for them again. Seems it was politically unsavory. Everyone complains about how much people in the private sector are paid, but no one considers that in addition to their salaries, members of Congress also enjoy federally funded staff budgets that also went up this past year and paid out bonuses to staffers. Where was the outrage?

"The growth in six-figure salaries has pushed the average federal worker's pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector."

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20091211/1afedpay11_st.art.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Tom..the article didn't say what they were comparing when they were speaking about porivate sector. Let me give you an idea here. I retired out of the military as an E-7, roughly the equivalent to a GS-6 step 10 on the GS scale. Base don the year I retired, my base pay as an E-7 over 22 years was about $43,000. Now, with benefits and non-taxable income, I was making roughly $63,000 per year. Since my work experience in the military dealt directly with project management and I had all my certifications, I was able to hire in as a GS-14.

I work in DC as a project manager and make a little over $85K as a GS-14 Step 1. The private sector salary, lowest level, for the same position and the same location, is shown as a little over $105K. If my math is correct, the private civilian salary is 20% higher than what I am making as a GS-14. Yes, GS employees have some benefits so I'll tweak the number, generously, and say I am still down a good 10-12% in salary from what the private sector is paying.

In that case it is true;

But as a Fed employee -/civilian/miltaryYou will not get laid off.

After 20 years you can retire with approx 80% of you top pay from a few years avrge.

Also the lasting medical benefits are there.

This does not found in the private sector

I was stupid; I left the fed gov/military ( was a civilan) 25 years ago; friend of mine stayed in. Same age. he is "retired" great benefits and works at another job for fun money. I went to work for a well known company, am paid ok, but still have to work at least another 10 years and hopefully avoid being laid off.

Yes, agreed..the no lay off portion is a good perk for GS employees. I debated the salary difference between GS and civilian sector and was trying to go civilian, however, the job market was pretty scarce and I ended up going GS just so that I would have a job :)

I actually don't utilize the federal employee health plan as I have my military plan which is better coverage for less. I don't have dependents and am not married so I only pay $230.00 per year in medical care. The co-pays are small, although, dental coverage is an issue. What benefit I get to regular health care I lose if I have to have dental work done beyond normal visits for checks and cleanings.

I also wear glasses and TRICARE does not cover those unless it is a medical necessity. I have to wear trifocals and have a really "out there" prescription so that cost goes WAY up any time I have to get another pair of glasses. Lenses alone are over $400.

Are you kidding? Government jobs pay crap (this article is only talking about the top paid people, which aren't the engineers for sure). I feel bad for the engineers in the federal government. It's usually engineers that couldn't get jobs anywhere in the private sector.

Not always pay poorly, % you can jump around real easy to ever increasing pay level. We should also talk about vacation days, and the accumalation of sick days - unlimited......

Yes, and I yell at them for it. A lot of good that does. Maybe the law could be changed? Who would decide if they got a raise? Oh, problem-Congress would have to pass a law that they can't give themselves a raise. SH---T. Dead End.

Unless some one can come up with a way to get it on national ballot- they are supposed to represent the voters so the voters should be able to decide if they get a raise then take away the pay for life that should help the budget by a trillion at least along with all the perks after leave office - they can make plenty from speaking and other stuff once out of office (term limit by vote) why should they continue to drain money from government and us once gone from doing nothing

It will be interesting to see how much the Republican party are willing to cut their staff and salaries.

Lu it should be across the line. Most states have already had to do it.

Lu be nice if all politicians would do it but all Obama is doing is his appointees not the Democrats but both parties should- they take their pay because they can not because most of them need it

People in this country are paid because they do the job, not because they need the salary. While I agree that deep cuts need to be made in federal spending, not paying people who in your opinion "don't need it" is not the answer. I also agree with pay freezes across the board.

I think every Politician should have had to work for a buck a year like Arnie and Bloomberg until they cleaned up their own mess....

...and I bet they would have worked very fast...

Or we can close down the 'defense' department and save over 1/2 billion every year.

Then we can balance the budget next year. and that's all that counts, right?

LU he'd love to do that but then america would call him the terrorist he is when the next attack would hit!

How about doing that line by line and look at each federal department to see where spending can be seriously cut. They just built a Federal Court house not to far where I live and they spent several of millions and millions of dollars on it. The sad part was alot of it was imported from outside the US. Like the flooring and granite and all the wood was imported in.Thats the kind of cr&& that needs to stop.

Exactly how do you know the brand of underwear he wears?

Or better yet WHY do you know what brand of underwear a stranger wears.

I think they call your types stalkers.

Not to defend the president, but you do realize that he was a millionaire before he became president. I am pretty sure he bought his own clothes.

He doesn't deserve any credit because he lies and is selling what is left to China. He just thinks most Americans are stupid and if he gives a good speech everyone will follow him and beleive what ever he says. A Chicago Lawyer.

Michael Buie The man just can't get any credit.
PLEASE Michael, tell me something he has done to earn credit because I am starting to feel sorry for him and all of his supporters. Using a teleprompter in a sixth grade classroom was priceless.

Credit?

All he has to do is threaten another bank!!!

Seriously, he is finally getting the "credit" he deserves. For screwing up royally.

You said it Craig, But this will not happen the crooks will not give up there goods. Are government is full of them , the ones that look out for number one. What a better government this would be if that happen.

Let's start with the czars.

The deficit belongs to all of us. About that 20% cut for federal employees, are you willing to send in 20% of your salary in addition to your tax burden to cover your portion of the deficit? Federal employees pay taxes just like you do - income (state and federal) Medicare, Social Security, etc. Keep in mind that the vast majority of federal employees (99.9%) have no involvement in the decision making (other than voting) that contributes to the deficit.

Go USA -------But I earn my money. But I did not pass the useless spending bills. When I do not produce I do not get raises or maybe a lay off when things are bad. The private sector can not be compared to the protected Government employees. However it would be nice if the government followed the practices of profitable private industries. They do not spend themselves into debt that can not be paid off.

Trust me, my Air Force colonel spouse earns the pay check as well. For us to take a 20% reduction in pay while we are also paying taxes just like you isn't right. As I said before, the majority of the federal payroll consists of people who go to work, do their jobs, and go home. They are not among the few that make the spending/budgeting decisions.

Irma, you are so confused. This country is a democratic republic not a dictatorship. When a person is elected to office, it doesn't change the way those who did not vote for that person think or what they think is right. I did not vote for Obama because I disagreed with his position on just about every issue. I will not, nor do I want my representatives, to roll over and do his bidding now.

So he is extending the freeze that was put into play last year when he took office which is a good thing. The writer of the article wrote in such a way that it sounds like a new thing rather than a carry over.

What bonuses are paid to political staff??? This from an administration condemning bonuses????

Lastly Irma I say they should have all of the House and the Senate take a pay cut not jut a freeze. Also a line by line item of some of their expenses. They spend on way more than they need to. Irma not everyone needs to agree with the POTUS's policies. That is not how it works in this country

One of the news organizations did a cost analysis of the recent Congressional trip to Coppenhagen. The cost of the rooms were 2,000. per night. The members of Congres had no idea as they never see the expenses. Turned out they were charged the weekly rate instead of a nightly. My argument would be who is booking this stuff and why are they not finding the most reasonable rates. Also some of the air fares were 8 and 10,000. each even though a military jet was taken. They all should have been made to go on the military jet or stayed home. Over a million dollars for the trip.

Sorry Irma, but if we start working with the President, we will go down with him. No Thanks

Oh..., you must mean like bankrupting the nation?