Close call - Senate votes down amendment

[James48843]

Senate Votes Down Pay Freeze Extension: The Senate on Tuesday rejected an amendment to the transportation bill (S.1813) that would have frozen federal pay for the third year. The amendment, proposed by Sen. Pat Roberts (R) of Kansas, failed by a 41-57 vote. The $109 billion transportation bill, which funds roads, bridges, and transportation projects, passed the Senate on Wednesday and will now head to the House. The bill also has a provision that would increase federal employees’ mass transit subsidy to $240 a month, up from $125. The maximum subsidy had been $230 since 2009 but it went back to $125 when an extension wasn’t passed by the end of last year.

They tried to tack on a third year pay freeze, and the vote was close- but did not pass the Senate.


Look for them to try and tack it back on in the House.


And the hits just keep on coming.

The amendment was about more than just the pay freeze, but the freeze was one of the provisions. Some voted for or against for other reasons, but here is the whole thing, if you want to go take a look:
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LI...00038#position



The vote- for those interested in keeping track of who is voting to freeze pay, and who is voting no:

Grouped By Vote Position

YEAs ---41 (For pay freeze amendment)
Alexander (R-TN) Ayotte (R-NH) Barrasso (R-WY) Begich (D-AK) Blunt (R-MO) Boozman (R-AR) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coats (R-IN) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID) Enzi (R-WY)	Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Heller (R-NV) Hoeven (R-ND) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Johnson (R-WI) Kyl (R-AZ) Lugar (R-IN) Manchin (D-WV) McCain (R-AZ) McCaskill (D-MO)	McConnell (R-KY) Moran (R-KS) Murkowski (R-AK) Paul (R-KY) Portman (R-OH) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Thune (R-SD) Toomey (R-PA) Vitter (R-LA) Wicker (R-MS)

NAYs ---57 - ( Against it- )
Akaka (D-HI) Baucus (D-MT) Bennet (D-CO) Bingaman (D-NM) Blumenthal (D-CT) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Brown (R-MA) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Coons (D-DE) Corker (R-TN) DeMint (R-SC) Durbin (D-IL) Feinstein (D-CA)	Franken (D-MN) Gillibrand (D-NY) Hagan (D-NC) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Johnson (D-SD) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Lee (R-UT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (ID-CT) Menendez (D-NJ) Merkley (D-OR) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA)	Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Pryor (D-AR) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Rubio (R-FL) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Shaheen (D-NH) Snowe (R-ME) Stabenow (D-MI) Tester (D-MT) Udall (D-CO) Udall (D-NM) Warner (D-VA) Webb (D-VA) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

Not Voting - 2
Hatch (R-UT)	Kirk (R-IL)

Have a nice day.

[nnuut]

Gosh, I didn't realize that some Federal workers get paid to travel back and forth to work, must be nice?

[James48843]

Gosh, I didn't realize that some Federal workers get paid to travel back and forth to work, must be nice?

Yes, Nnuut- they do. They pay some federal workers a subsidy to use mass transit. If you agree to use the Metro Train in DC, for example, in lieu of driving a personally own car to work, you are eligible for the subsidy. It reduces the traffic on limited roads, and eliminates the cost of having to build parking lots for employees cars. Parking inside major cities can be expensive, you know.

[James48843]

Oh, and at the place were I work, there are almost 200 employees in the building. And now there are 5 "Van pools" with between six and eight riders each, that reduce the number of cars on the road from about 30 to 5. Once again, helps with traffic congestion, and also parking issues.

MDOT - MichiVan Commuter Vanpools

It is considered in the public interest to reduce traffic, and the use of FOREIGN OIL.

[nnuut]

That's OK for them, but what about the Feds that don't work in a major populated city like New York, Washington DC area etc? You know the areas that get higher salaries because of the cost of living, Locality Pay for the folks in RUS (rest of the United States) get payed less and don't get compensated to drive to work and some spend easily more than that $225 a month. For example Feds in San Francisco at the GS12 level, topped out get $50.74 an hour (2011 chart) while RUS at the same level gets $42.86 an hour, that's about $16,640 a year, With a free ride to work! Something is wrong with that.
2012 General Schedule (GS) Locality Pay Tables

[ILoveTDs]

We have van pools at Hill AFB in Utah and we are RUS. I think it is more of a size of the office thing not weather you are in a metropolitan area.

[nasa1974]

Here in Cleveland we can get passes for the local transportation. If you work downtown at the federal buiding the local parking garages charge 8-15 dollars a day for parking. To use the rapid transit or bus system it is $5.00 a day.

[James48843]

Many agencies have transit benefits of some kind- not just in the big cities. Ask your agency what they offer.

[nnuut]

I don't have an agency but, when I did there was limited buses that could be used from some nearby areas but it was very limited, out of 19,000 employees there may have been 200 that were able to take advantage of it.

[Minnow]

Oh, and at the place were I work, there are almost 200 employees in the building. And now there are 5 "Van pools" with between six and eight riders each, that reduce the number of cars on the road from about 30 to 5. Once again, helps with traffic congestion, and also parking issues.

MDOT - MichiVan Commuter Vanpools

It is considered in the public interest to reduce traffic, and the use of FOREIGN OIL.

I thought it was in the public interest to keep america's automakers in business the last time I heard you making a point. White man speak with fork-ed tongue.

[RealMoneyIssues]

I thought it was in the public interest to keep america's automakers in business the last time I heard you making a point. White man speak with fork-ed tongue.

It is a double-edged sword... Unions on one side, Greenies on the other

[ILoveTDs]

We have van pools at Hill AFB in Utah and we are RUS. I think it is more of a size of the office thing not weather you are in a metropolitan area.

Ours isn't buses it's vans, so you don't have to find a bus route you just got to get enough to sign up for the van pool to get the transpertation department to be willing to provide the van.