Are Federal Workers Overpaid? Watch Heritage vs the Unions Wednesday

Jason Richwine / March 07, 2011

The Federal Times calls it a “steel cage match” in which “two wonks enter, one wonk leaves.” Congressional hearings are never that exciting, but Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing on federal pay does promise some spirited debate. At issue is how the federal government pays its civilian workers—and, more importantly, whether it pays them too much. Leaders of the Office of Personnel Management and National Treasury Employees Union will confront critics of federal pay for the first time in public. Those critics – “in the red corner” as the Federal Times puts it – are Heritage’s James Sherk and Andrew Biggs of AEI.

Defenders of the federal pay system will have a difficult task during the hearing. They must explain the following: (more…)