| NWA Report |
| November 2011 NWA Report by Larry Olsen, NWA Exec |
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News from the NWA for October can best be described as what is going to happen next? That would probably be
true for the rest of the Areas. The VISP notice came out with numbers for each of the States. The
application/deadline period announced and then the waiting process to see just where the VISP offers will be
accepted. The anticipation of all this is, what will happen next? Directed reassignment (possibility and process),
more shared management, possible consolidation or closure of County Offices.
We all know that the reduction of staff through the VISP is not the end of the story, but the beginning. The phrase
that NASCOE President John Lohr has so often used “we are waiting for the other shoe to drop” pretty well sums
it up!
NASOCE has not been waiting to see what next. NASCOE has been proactive through this whole process.
NASCOE sent out an alert, which basically questioned the anticipated reductions as premature because there
was no FY 2012 budget yet only projected budget numbers.
NASCOE President John Lohr and Vice President Mark Van Hoose met with Administrator Bruce Nelson,
Assistant Under Secretary Caris Gutter, DAFO, and other Agency folks the second week of October where they
discussed the issues of consolidation/closure concerns, the lack of agency plans to reduce/reorganize above
the County Office level.
NASCOE President John Lohr and Vice President Mark Van Hoose had a conference call with FSA Administrator
Bruce Nelson Thursday October 20, 2011 to address employee concerns and offer suggestions.
The NASCOE Legislative Committee organized a targeted WDC legislative fly in Wednesday and Thursday
November 2-3, 2012. The belief was the House and Senate Ag Committees will try to finalize a farm bill with the
12 member Super Committee. The feeling was that this was an opportunity to get a bill done without sending it
to the floor for debate. If it could be included with the Super Committee recommendation for deficit reduction then
it will be included along with an up or down vote on the deficit plan. NASCOE wanted to try to push our NASCOE
positions with the 12 member Super Committee.
The NWA has two States with Super Committee Members. Senator Murray from Washington and Senator
Baucus from Montana. The NASCOE Legislative Committee requested 2 members from each State be sent to
WDC. The NWA Legislative Chair James Anderson contacted each one of the NWA States mentioned. The
respective States selected Paula Reed and Kathy Modin from Washington and Lori Knudsen and Bill Evans from
Montana as representatives to participate in the NASCOE Leg Fly-in. We all need to give thanks to our NWA
Representatives!
This was very short notice and a slim in numbers group. The attendees also included the NASCOE Legislative
Committee Chairs Dan Root and Terry Stehr, NASCOE President John Lohr and VP Mark Van Hoose, and 2
members from the States with Super Committee members and representatives from Michigan (Senate Ag
Committee Chair Stabenow) and Minnesota (House Ag Committee Ranking Member Peterson). The Ag
Committee Chairs and Ranking members submitted their recommendation to the Super Committee regarding
the Ag cut recommendation amount. The amount submitted was 23 billion. The main focus of the fly-in was:
Thanks to all of attendees of the Legislative fly-in. The NASCOE Legislative Committee for their quick work, and
all of the attendees for taking the time to represent us all.
NASCOE has had a busy month. Was it a successful one? Time will tell. The one thing that we do know is that
our positions have been put forth and pushed as hard as possible.
Coming events for November include the NASCOE Executive committee and negotiations consultants from the 5
NASCOE representative areas will be going to WDC to finalize the 2011 negotiations with FSA management by
discussing the various program issues. The goal from NASCOE’s perspective is to increase program
efficiencies for the employees and address employee concerns. NASCOE along with FSA Administrator, Bruce
Nelson basically restored this face to face meeting process. It had been halted initially due to budgetary
reasons. There will be a NASCOE business meeting on Monday November 14, and meeting with FSA
management will be November 15 and 16. Attending the meeting will be the NASCOE executive committee and
the 2011 negotiations consultants. MWA- Dennis Ray, Missouri, NEA Howard Rood, Vermont, NWA Annette
Schenk, Idaho, SEA Sabrina Conditt, Arkansas and SWA Perri Jennings, New Mexico.
The South Dakota Association SDASCOE recently held its annual fall board mtg. October 13-14, 2012. I was
invited to attend as NWA Exec. The SDASCOE group made plans for the 2012 SDASCOE convention to be held
in Brookings, SD on April 20-21, 2012 at the Staurolite Inn/Fireside Restaurant. The SDASCOE group also
invited South Dakota FSA State Director Craig Schaunaman. Mr. Schaunaman answered questions that had
been submitted prior to the meeting. Mr. Schaunaman also took questions from the SDASCOE group during the
meeting. The minutes of this meeting and Question and Answer session by SED Craig Schaunaman are posted
on the SDASCOE website www.sdascoe.org or access through the NASCOE website www.nascoe.org . My
thanks to the SDASCOE crew for their invitation and hospitality
It will soon be time to submit 2012 negotiation items. The process has changed some for 2012. The negotiation
submission form is on the NASCOE website this year and will all be done electronically online. Negotiation form
is now available. You can access the form from the NASCOE website www.nascoe.org or the NWA website www.
nwanascoe.org Please take the time to voice your concerns and issues that are important to not only you, but
also to the rest of our Agency. Negotiations are one of the most important processes that NASCOE takes place
in.
We are all anxious to know what the future holds for all of us in FSA. What will be the next round after the VISPs
are over? I have learned that many States received more VISP offers than they have slots for, but Nationally the
VISP did not get enough participation to meet the targeted personnel reductions. There are rumors of another
round of VISP in January of 2012, but at a reduced amount ($18,000). There are no details yet from the SED mtg.
in Atlanta, GA. Hopefully NASOCE will learn more of what we may be expecting at the WDC negotiations mtg. in
November or in the near future regarding possible plans for directed reassignment and possible office
consolidation/closure. Once the reductions take place at the end of November obviously there will need to be
some plan to deal with reduced numbers. NASCOE will continue to be proactive in this area.
The final thing that I am enclosing is an article regarding the Senate and House Oversight Committees.
Top members of the Senate and House government oversight committees are calling for an extension of federal
employees' two-year pay freeze and other steep cuts to federal pay and benefits.
The freeze, now covering 2011 and 2012, should run for another year, Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan
Collins, R-Maine, said in a letter to the congressional super committee charged with finding ways to reduce the
federal budget deficit.
Similarly, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.,
and other Republican members on the panel called on the super committee to extend the federal pay freeze
through 2015. They also called on the super committee to permanently end "non-performance-based" step
increases.
Federal employees, including members of Congress and their staffs, "must sacrifice as part of an urgent need to
curtail the cost of the federal government and reduce the national debt," Lieberman and Collins wrote in a letter
to the super committee outlining their proposed spending cuts. A one-year extension would save an estimated
$32 billion, they added, but they did not say over what period those expected savings would occur.
Lieberman chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; Collins is the
committee's top Republican.
Lieberman and Collins also recommended:
• Phasing in a 1.2 percent increase over three years to the amount Federal Employees Retirement System
participants contribute to their pension plans. That change would eventually bring their total contribution to 2
percent of salary. President Obama proposed the same thing in his recommendations to the super committee.
But the senators added that the proposal should cover legislative and judicial branch employees, not just the
executive branch workforce.
• A halt to allowing FERS participants to count unused sick leave toward their retirement. That would save $561
million over 10 years, they said.
• Moving to a "high-five" retirement calculation system. Currently, employee pensions are calculated by using on
the three highest-earning years. Transitioning to a high-five system should be structured to limit the impact on
workers already near retirement, they cautioned. If that isn't done, the result could be a wave of retirements as
employees rush to get out before change takes effect.
In a letter, Issa and other Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Committee recommended that
the super committee:
• Boost the pension contribution that FERS employees pay from the current rate of 0.8 percent to 6.2 percent.
Participants in the Civil Service Retirement System should increase their contribution from 7 percent to 10
percent, they urged.
• Shift federal employees to a high-five pension calculation.
• Eliminate the FERS defined benefit pension plan for new hires and replace it with a "defined contribution"
option that would supplement the Thrift Savings Plan once recipients reach Social Security age.
• Trim the federal workforce 10 percent by hiring only one new employee for every three who leave.
At a minimum, the cumulative 10-year savings would be $375 billion, Issa said.
Officially known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the 12-member bipartisan super committee
is supposed to deliver a roadmap by Nov. 23 on how to reduce expected federal deficits by at least $1.2 trillion
during the next decade. The full Congress must approve those recommendations by Christmas, or else
automatic spending cuts will begin to take effect in early 2013, under the debt ceiling law signed in August.
The Lieberman-Collins proposals drew a biting response from John Gage, president of the American Federation
of Government Employees, who said in a news release that more should be asked of government contractors.
"Federal employees have sacrificed more than any other group, giving up two years of pay increases to help
lower the country's deficit," Gage said. "It's time to pass the hat and ask others to pay their fair share."
Contractors can currently charge the government almost $694,000 a year for salary and other compensation for
their five highest-paid executives, but more for staff below that level. Lieberman and Collins want to expand the
existing cap to cover other contractor employees; the Obama administration is seeking to limit contractor
executive pay to Level I of the federal executive schedule, currently $199,700. AFGE believes that the lower cap
should apply to all contract employees, a spokesman said Monday.
That approach was endorsed last week by Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee, who said in a report that more cuts to federal employee compensation, could hurt recruitment,
retention and agency performance.
One item left out of this article was to end the “rest of US”, which essentially would be a pay cut to go to base pay
without the rest of US locality increase.
This is a concern. While this is just a suggestion and no real legislation we should all be concerned. I
remember reading about many of the items listed a few years back when then Rep. Kantor put forth a resolution
with many of these same items. It barely got a yawn from other members. Now it is a calling from the leadership
of the House and Senate Oversight Committees. We had better take this serious and encourage our
membership to respond to the NASCOE CAP/WIZ alerts and the NARFE alerts regarding our pay and benefits.
What can you do as NASCOE members? Sign up for CAP/WIZ and make sure you respond to the alerts.
Encourage membership in NASCOE and your State Association; enroll in the PAC (access through the NASCOE
website www.nascoe.org ). NASCOE is a grass roots organization which depends on its membership to stay in
contact with their congressional delegations.
Reminder to make your reservations for both the NASCOE Northwest Area Rally (August 8-9. 2012) to be held in
conjunction with the 2012 NASCOE Convention in Boise, ID (August 10-13, 2012) information available on the
NASCOE website www.nascoe.org and do not forget to purchase a raffle ticket for a Jayco Travel Trailer offered
as a fund raiser by IDASCOE, host of the 2012 convention in Boise, ID. Tickets are $20.00 a piece or 6 for
$100.00 WHAT A DEAL!! The perfect Christmas gift for that hard to buy for person!
Thank you!
Respectively submitted by
Larry Olsen, NWA Exec.
true for the rest of the Areas. The VISP notice came out with numbers for each of the States. The
application/deadline period announced and then the waiting process to see just where the VISP offers will be
accepted. The anticipation of all this is, what will happen next? Directed reassignment (possibility and process),
more shared management, possible consolidation or closure of County Offices.
We all know that the reduction of staff through the VISP is not the end of the story, but the beginning. The phrase
that NASCOE President John Lohr has so often used “we are waiting for the other shoe to drop” pretty well sums
it up!
NASOCE has not been waiting to see what next. NASCOE has been proactive through this whole process.
NASCOE sent out an alert, which basically questioned the anticipated reductions as premature because there
was no FY 2012 budget yet only projected budget numbers.
NASCOE President John Lohr and Vice President Mark Van Hoose met with Administrator Bruce Nelson,
Assistant Under Secretary Caris Gutter, DAFO, and other Agency folks the second week of October where they
discussed the issues of consolidation/closure concerns, the lack of agency plans to reduce/reorganize above
the County Office level.
NASCOE President John Lohr and Vice President Mark Van Hoose had a conference call with FSA Administrator
Bruce Nelson Thursday October 20, 2011 to address employee concerns and offer suggestions.
The NASCOE Legislative Committee organized a targeted WDC legislative fly in Wednesday and Thursday
November 2-3, 2012. The belief was the House and Senate Ag Committees will try to finalize a farm bill with the
12 member Super Committee. The feeling was that this was an opportunity to get a bill done without sending it
to the floor for debate. If it could be included with the Super Committee recommendation for deficit reduction then
it will be included along with an up or down vote on the deficit plan. NASCOE wanted to try to push our NASCOE
positions with the 12 member Super Committee.
The NWA has two States with Super Committee Members. Senator Murray from Washington and Senator
Baucus from Montana. The NASCOE Legislative Committee requested 2 members from each State be sent to
WDC. The NWA Legislative Chair James Anderson contacted each one of the NWA States mentioned. The
respective States selected Paula Reed and Kathy Modin from Washington and Lori Knudsen and Bill Evans from
Montana as representatives to participate in the NASCOE Leg Fly-in. We all need to give thanks to our NWA
Representatives!
This was very short notice and a slim in numbers group. The attendees also included the NASCOE Legislative
Committee Chairs Dan Root and Terry Stehr, NASCOE President John Lohr and VP Mark Van Hoose, and 2
members from the States with Super Committee members and representatives from Michigan (Senate Ag
Committee Chair Stabenow) and Minnesota (House Ag Committee Ranking Member Peterson). The Ag
Committee Chairs and Ranking members submitted their recommendation to the Super Committee regarding
the Ag cut recommendation amount. The amount submitted was 23 billion. The main focus of the fly-in was:
- Conservation Administration
- Our Crop Insurance imitative
- FSA-Reorg above the COF level
Thanks to all of attendees of the Legislative fly-in. The NASCOE Legislative Committee for their quick work, and
all of the attendees for taking the time to represent us all.
NASCOE has had a busy month. Was it a successful one? Time will tell. The one thing that we do know is that
our positions have been put forth and pushed as hard as possible.
Coming events for November include the NASCOE Executive committee and negotiations consultants from the 5
NASCOE representative areas will be going to WDC to finalize the 2011 negotiations with FSA management by
discussing the various program issues. The goal from NASCOE’s perspective is to increase program
efficiencies for the employees and address employee concerns. NASCOE along with FSA Administrator, Bruce
Nelson basically restored this face to face meeting process. It had been halted initially due to budgetary
reasons. There will be a NASCOE business meeting on Monday November 14, and meeting with FSA
management will be November 15 and 16. Attending the meeting will be the NASCOE executive committee and
the 2011 negotiations consultants. MWA- Dennis Ray, Missouri, NEA Howard Rood, Vermont, NWA Annette
Schenk, Idaho, SEA Sabrina Conditt, Arkansas and SWA Perri Jennings, New Mexico.
The South Dakota Association SDASCOE recently held its annual fall board mtg. October 13-14, 2012. I was
invited to attend as NWA Exec. The SDASCOE group made plans for the 2012 SDASCOE convention to be held
in Brookings, SD on April 20-21, 2012 at the Staurolite Inn/Fireside Restaurant. The SDASCOE group also
invited South Dakota FSA State Director Craig Schaunaman. Mr. Schaunaman answered questions that had
been submitted prior to the meeting. Mr. Schaunaman also took questions from the SDASCOE group during the
meeting. The minutes of this meeting and Question and Answer session by SED Craig Schaunaman are posted
on the SDASCOE website www.sdascoe.org or access through the NASCOE website www.nascoe.org . My
thanks to the SDASCOE crew for their invitation and hospitality
It will soon be time to submit 2012 negotiation items. The process has changed some for 2012. The negotiation
submission form is on the NASCOE website this year and will all be done electronically online. Negotiation form
is now available. You can access the form from the NASCOE website www.nascoe.org or the NWA website www.
nwanascoe.org Please take the time to voice your concerns and issues that are important to not only you, but
also to the rest of our Agency. Negotiations are one of the most important processes that NASCOE takes place
in.
We are all anxious to know what the future holds for all of us in FSA. What will be the next round after the VISPs
are over? I have learned that many States received more VISP offers than they have slots for, but Nationally the
VISP did not get enough participation to meet the targeted personnel reductions. There are rumors of another
round of VISP in January of 2012, but at a reduced amount ($18,000). There are no details yet from the SED mtg.
in Atlanta, GA. Hopefully NASOCE will learn more of what we may be expecting at the WDC negotiations mtg. in
November or in the near future regarding possible plans for directed reassignment and possible office
consolidation/closure. Once the reductions take place at the end of November obviously there will need to be
some plan to deal with reduced numbers. NASCOE will continue to be proactive in this area.
The final thing that I am enclosing is an article regarding the Senate and House Oversight Committees.
Top members of the Senate and House government oversight committees are calling for an extension of federal
employees' two-year pay freeze and other steep cuts to federal pay and benefits.
The freeze, now covering 2011 and 2012, should run for another year, Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan
Collins, R-Maine, said in a letter to the congressional super committee charged with finding ways to reduce the
federal budget deficit.
Similarly, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.,
and other Republican members on the panel called on the super committee to extend the federal pay freeze
through 2015. They also called on the super committee to permanently end "non-performance-based" step
increases.
Federal employees, including members of Congress and their staffs, "must sacrifice as part of an urgent need to
curtail the cost of the federal government and reduce the national debt," Lieberman and Collins wrote in a letter
to the super committee outlining their proposed spending cuts. A one-year extension would save an estimated
$32 billion, they added, but they did not say over what period those expected savings would occur.
Lieberman chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; Collins is the
committee's top Republican.
Lieberman and Collins also recommended:
• Phasing in a 1.2 percent increase over three years to the amount Federal Employees Retirement System
participants contribute to their pension plans. That change would eventually bring their total contribution to 2
percent of salary. President Obama proposed the same thing in his recommendations to the super committee.
But the senators added that the proposal should cover legislative and judicial branch employees, not just the
executive branch workforce.
• A halt to allowing FERS participants to count unused sick leave toward their retirement. That would save $561
million over 10 years, they said.
• Moving to a "high-five" retirement calculation system. Currently, employee pensions are calculated by using on
the three highest-earning years. Transitioning to a high-five system should be structured to limit the impact on
workers already near retirement, they cautioned. If that isn't done, the result could be a wave of retirements as
employees rush to get out before change takes effect.
In a letter, Issa and other Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Committee recommended that
the super committee:
• Boost the pension contribution that FERS employees pay from the current rate of 0.8 percent to 6.2 percent.
Participants in the Civil Service Retirement System should increase their contribution from 7 percent to 10
percent, they urged.
• Shift federal employees to a high-five pension calculation.
• Eliminate the FERS defined benefit pension plan for new hires and replace it with a "defined contribution"
option that would supplement the Thrift Savings Plan once recipients reach Social Security age.
• Trim the federal workforce 10 percent by hiring only one new employee for every three who leave.
At a minimum, the cumulative 10-year savings would be $375 billion, Issa said.
Officially known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the 12-member bipartisan super committee
is supposed to deliver a roadmap by Nov. 23 on how to reduce expected federal deficits by at least $1.2 trillion
during the next decade. The full Congress must approve those recommendations by Christmas, or else
automatic spending cuts will begin to take effect in early 2013, under the debt ceiling law signed in August.
The Lieberman-Collins proposals drew a biting response from John Gage, president of the American Federation
of Government Employees, who said in a news release that more should be asked of government contractors.
"Federal employees have sacrificed more than any other group, giving up two years of pay increases to help
lower the country's deficit," Gage said. "It's time to pass the hat and ask others to pay their fair share."
Contractors can currently charge the government almost $694,000 a year for salary and other compensation for
their five highest-paid executives, but more for staff below that level. Lieberman and Collins want to expand the
existing cap to cover other contractor employees; the Obama administration is seeking to limit contractor
executive pay to Level I of the federal executive schedule, currently $199,700. AFGE believes that the lower cap
should apply to all contract employees, a spokesman said Monday.
That approach was endorsed last week by Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee, who said in a report that more cuts to federal employee compensation, could hurt recruitment,
retention and agency performance.
One item left out of this article was to end the “rest of US”, which essentially would be a pay cut to go to base pay
without the rest of US locality increase.
This is a concern. While this is just a suggestion and no real legislation we should all be concerned. I
remember reading about many of the items listed a few years back when then Rep. Kantor put forth a resolution
with many of these same items. It barely got a yawn from other members. Now it is a calling from the leadership
of the House and Senate Oversight Committees. We had better take this serious and encourage our
membership to respond to the NASCOE CAP/WIZ alerts and the NARFE alerts regarding our pay and benefits.
What can you do as NASCOE members? Sign up for CAP/WIZ and make sure you respond to the alerts.
Encourage membership in NASCOE and your State Association; enroll in the PAC (access through the NASCOE
website www.nascoe.org ). NASCOE is a grass roots organization which depends on its membership to stay in
contact with their congressional delegations.
Reminder to make your reservations for both the NASCOE Northwest Area Rally (August 8-9. 2012) to be held in
conjunction with the 2012 NASCOE Convention in Boise, ID (August 10-13, 2012) information available on the
NASCOE website www.nascoe.org and do not forget to purchase a raffle ticket for a Jayco Travel Trailer offered
as a fund raiser by IDASCOE, host of the 2012 convention in Boise, ID. Tickets are $20.00 a piece or 6 for
$100.00 WHAT A DEAL!! The perfect Christmas gift for that hard to buy for person!
Thank you!
Respectively submitted by
Larry Olsen, NWA Exec.