Analysis: Federal employees tired of being punching bags

Tom Shoop, the editor-in-chief of Government Executive magazine, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss a commentary published by a federal employee. Jaso...

Federal employees have been taking a lot of punches. Now one of them is punching back.

Jason Ullner a career Foreign Service Officer, in an op-ed for The Washington Post, declared: “I am a federal bureaucrat. A professional government employee. And guess what? I’m damn proud of it.”

Ullner said he grew tired of “once and future leaders of our country tripping over themselves to denigrate the work we do” as federal employees.

Tom Shoop, the editor-in-chief of Government Executive magazine, wrote about the commentary on his GovExec blog. Shoop, who joined In Depth with Francis Rose for an interview, requested comment from Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.), who has sponsored a bill to increase federal employees’ retirement contributions.

Ross told GovExec in an email: “The need to right size the federal workforce and align pay and benefits with the real world is not about bashing federal employees as government unions would have you believe. The need to do this is about preserving the financial viability of our country with a workforce that … remains too large and too noncompetitive.”

Click here to read Ullner’s original op-ed.

Click here to read the GovExec post with Ross’ response.

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