Norton to Offer Amendment for Funds to Help OPM Reduce Federal Pension Backlog

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today will offer an amendment to H.R. 3813 that would apply a portion of the savings the bill provides by reducing federal pensions to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to help reduce a backlog in the processing of retirement annuity and pension cases, a major problem for federal retirees. Norton's amendment, a Sense of the Congress provision, would assist OPM with its backlog of about 62,000 retirement claims pending adjudication, which is set to rise by another 100,000 applications soon. The bill will be marked up at today's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing at 1:30 p.m. in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building, when Norton's bill, the District of Columbia Special Election Reform Act, to give D.C. more flexibility in scheduling special elections will also be marked up.

"This bill is a punitive effort to tap federal employee pensions to produce savings, but if the bill is going to pass, it might as well do some good for the workers who have already done their part," Norton said. "The Office of Personnel Management desperately needs more funding to do its job, and giving OPM some of the savings from this bill would at least impart a little quality into a bad bill while tackling a major problem for the government and federal retirees."

Norton's amendment reads, "It is the sense of Congress that a portion of the savings generated by this Act should be applied towards the Office of Personnel Management's Retirement Services so as to increase its capability to process and eliminate the growing backlog of retirement annuity and pensions cases."

Published: February 7, 2011