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details continue to emerge about
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proposed cuts to federal employees
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retirement benefits that have been
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proposed by the House Oversight
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Committee let's take a look at what
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those are hello everyone Ian Smith here
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with vSmith.com thank you for joining me
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today as many of you are probably aware
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by now the House Oversight Committee has
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proposed a number of cuts to federal
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employees retirement benefits this is a
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list of them i'll put up a a summary
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list here but uh new details continue to
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emerge on how these would work in
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practice assuming they were to ever
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become law we don't know if they will or
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not but at least as proposed and the
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Congressional Research Service published
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a document recently with um some
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additional details that I found
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interesting about these proposed cuts
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and I wanted to share them with you um
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I'm not going to go through every single
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little detail about um this list of
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proposed cuts what they are what they
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entail i've got another video on that as
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well as some articles and I'll include
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links in the description to those but
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instead I'm going to focus more on on
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what the u the new details are from this
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Congressional Research Service document
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and the first category is increased
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employee contributions to FURs or the
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federal employees retirement system and
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the way employee contributions work
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right now it's a little confusing for
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federal employees who were hired before
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2013 they contribute 0.8% of their
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salary to FURs for federal employees who
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were hired on or after January 1st 2013
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they contribute 3.1% and for those hired
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on or after January 1st
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2014 they contribute 4.4% now what this
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proposal is putting forth it's proposing
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to raise um the employee share of the
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contributions to 4.4% across the board
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so for those first hired before 2013 and
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in 2013 they would also contribute 4.4%
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however law enforcement officers and
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related groups would be exempt from this
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the catch on this though is it doesn't
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happen right away it would it would be
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staggered in over a period of time and
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um for those first hired prior to
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2013 the contributions would be
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increased from 0.8% to 4.4% as I said of
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pay over two calendar years and it would
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starting in in January 2026
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so it would be it would go to 2.6% of
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their salaries in 2026 and it would
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increase to 4.4% the following year in
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2027 the contribution increase for
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employees hired in 2013 it would be a
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little bit different it would be
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staggered over two years as well but it
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would be increased from 3.1% to 4.4% of
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pay over two calendar years also
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starting in January 2026 however it
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would be as follows it would go from
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2026 and to 4.4% in 2027 these increases
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would also apply to members of Congress
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and congressional staff for those
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elected or hired before 2013 the
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increase would include an
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additional.5% so it would go to 3.1% in
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2027 for those hired in 2013 it would be
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the same as uh for federal employees the
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next item is the elimination of the FURs
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annuity supplement what the
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Congressional Research Service document
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had to say about this is that it would
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eliminate the FURs annuity supplement
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for new retirees not yet entitled to it
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it would preserve it for anyone
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separated from service under mandatory
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retirement provisions for instance
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generally age 57 for law enforcement
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officers and age 56 for air traffic
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controllers the next up is the switch
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from the high three to the high five the
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key thing to note here is that it would
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take effect for new federal retirees
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starting in January 2027 the next item
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is the option for new hires to elect at
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will employment what this would do is it
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would increase the FUR's contribution
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rate by 5% to a total of 9.4% of pay or
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9.9% for groups covered by enhanced
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retirement benefits unless they elect at
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will employment this decision would be
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irrevocable and employees in the
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situation could be subject to adverse
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actions including removal without notice
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appeal the heads of employing agencies
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could act quote for good cause bad cause
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or no cause at all," unquote also
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employees who may not currently appeal
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their removals to the Merit Systems
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Protection Board such as political
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appointees would appear to be carved out
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of this proposal again that's according
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to the Congressional Research Service
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document on this the next item is a
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proposal to institute a $350 MSP filing
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fee again that's not new news but the
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one detail about it that caught my eye
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is that it would provide exceptions for
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actions brought by the Office of Special
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Counsel to the MSPB and claims alleging
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retaliation against whistleblowers and
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the last point eligibility audits that's
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the federal employees health benefits
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program the program where that provides
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health insurance to federal employees
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this proposal would require the Office
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of Personnel Management to establish
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processes to verify family member
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eligibility when an enrolly adds an
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individual to the FEB for coverage but
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it would require OPM to do a few things
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it would require verifying the accuracy
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of a qualifying life event when an
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enroly adds a family member for coverage
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it would remove ineligible family
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members enrolled in FEB or I'm sorry OPM
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would would be required to remove
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ineligible family members enrolled in
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FEP and notify the OPM inspector general
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of such disenrollment
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opm would also be required to conduct a
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comprehensive audit in collaboration
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with employing offices of family members
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enrolled in the FEB by reviewing
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documents supporting their eligibility
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and refer ineligible individuals to the
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OPM inspector general and lastly OPM
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would have to maintain
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um family member FEB eligibility records
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for specified time periods and to
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include an assessment of non-eligible
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FEB enrolled family members in any fraud
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risk assessment that's a quick summary
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of these the new details regarding these
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proposals from this Congressional
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Research Service document like I said I
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didn't get into every single detail
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about these proposals if you'd like more
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information please be sure to check the
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description i've included links in there
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to some articles I've written as well as
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another video it's important to remember
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also these are just proposals right now
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they're not law they may never become
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law and even if they do become law they
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could change along the way from what's
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being proposed currently we've seen a
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number of these proposals in the past
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they have and they've never come to
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fruition that could happen again here we
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just don't know i know a lot of you have
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questions about this we've gotten
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questions from our readers and viewers
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and unfortunately we can't really answer
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them until they become law we're just
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not going to have a lot of details about
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what these will ultimately entail and
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how they'll be implemented because like
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I said they could change and and they
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may never even come to fruition um I
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understand the concern certainly it it's
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important for a lot of you since it
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impacts your pay and benefits but at the
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very least until it's much further along
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in the legislative process it would be
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pure speculation at this point so my
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advice for what it's worth is to don't
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don't panic be informed not obsessed
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that's advice I heard about this type of
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thing one time i thought it was very
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wise advice and control what you can
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control like I said stay informed be
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aware of it of what's going on and you
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can also write your congressman as well
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and let your thoughts and opinions be
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known we will certainly continue to keep
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you updated as new information becomes
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available um if these move further along
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in the legislative process and certainly
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if it looks like they're going to become
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law new information will be coming out
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so please be sure to check the
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fedsmith.com website for new articles
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and also our YouTube channel we'll be
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posting new articles and videos as more
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information becomes available thank you
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for watching i hope you found this
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helpful have a good day
