Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush used his February 18 appearance at CNN's Republican presidential town hall to parrot a common right-wing media attack line against purportedly overpaid federal employees.
Jeb Bush Uses CNN Town Hall To Hype Right-Wing Media Myth About Overpaid Federal Workers
Bush Misleadingly Claimed Federal Workers Are Paid “40 Percent More” Than Their Private Sector Counterparts
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Jeb Bush Uses Town Hall Appearance To Attack Government Employees
Bush Suggests Cutting Compensation For Federal Workers As Solution To Growing National Debt. During CNN's February 18 Republican presidential town hall, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush outlined a four-point plan to simultaneously reinvigorate the American economy and tackle the growing national debt should he be elected president. After pledging to increase federal tax revenue by pursuing a “high growth strategy” of tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks, Bush promised to pursue “career civil service reform” for government workers who he claimed “get paid 40 percent more” that their private sector counterparts:
JEB BUSH: As it relates to fixing the debt from government, there are three things we have to do -- I'd say four. One, grow the economy at 4 percent, not 2 percent ... which means, tax reform, regulatory reform, embracing the energy revolution, dealing with the things that are now impeding our ability to invest in our own country ... .
[...]
Secondly, we need career civil service reform. There shouldn't be lifetime guarantees for government workers. Government workers, in Washington, get paid 40 percent more than their equivalent workers in the private sector. Why? They're supposed to be the servants, not the masters, but yet we've allowed this to happen because they have these protections that make it harder to adjust, to reform, to challenge. People, we're stuck, we're stuck in a 20th century world, with the 20th century's bureaucracy in a 21st century world. [CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, 2/18/16]
Rubio Had Used The Same CNN Forum To Push Right-Wing Media Myths The Night Before. During the February 17 edition of the two-day CNN town hall, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) parroted the right-wing media myth that the behavior of low-income parents is to blame for children being forced to live in poverty. Rubio's criticism of struggling families mirrored years of poor shaming emanating from Fox News. [Media Matters, 2/18/16]
Federal Employees Do Not Earn 40 Percent More Than Private Sector; Cutting Their Pay Would Not Make A Dent In The Budget Deficit
CBO: Federal Workers Are Older, More Educated, More Specialized Than Private Sector But Earn Only About 2 Percent More. According to a January 2012 report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), federal workers are compensated differently than private sector workers because they perform different jobs and have different levels of education. After accounting for education levels, seniority, location, and job similarity, the CBO found that federal employees earn only 2 percent more than would be expected in the private sector. The CBO noted that the actual gap “between what federal employees earn and what they would earn in the private sector could be larger or smaller” if different characteristics were accounted for. As the chart below demonstrates, federal jobs tend to pay better than private sector positions for less educated workers, but they fall behind the private sector for more educated workers:
[Congressional Budget Office, January 2012]
Federal Salary Council: Federal Employees Nationwide Face 35 Percent Pay Disparity Versus Private Sector. According to a November 2014 report by executive branch advisory group the Federal Salary Council, which used a different methodology than the CBO, federal employees nationwide face an average pay disparity of 35 percent compared to private sector counterparts performing “the same levels of work.” [Federal Salary Council, 11/7/14]
OMB: Nearly One-Third Of Federal Compensation Goes To The Military. In 2015, according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), total outlays to federal employees in all branches of government was nearly $488 billion, but almost $143 billion (29.2 percent) went to current and former members of the military. In total, “personnel compensation and benefits” amounted to just 9.1 percent of the federal governments' more than $5.3 trillion in “gross obligations” for the year:
[The White House, Office of Management and Budget, Table 1, accessed 2/19/16]
Right-Wing Media Frequently Claim Federal Workers Are Overpaid, A Burden To Taxpayers
Las Vegas Review-Journal Op-Ed Blames Public Sector Unions For Income Inequality. A February 1 op-ed published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal misleadingly claimed that government employee unions are a “key source of income inequality” because they use “coercive statutes” and collective bargaining to negotiate benefits, salary, and job security at the expense of “their ultimate employers -- the taxpayers.” [Las Vegas Review-Journal, 2/1/16, via Media Matters]
Fox News Hypes Misleading Cato Data Claiming Federal Workers Make 78 Percent More Than Private Sector. On the October 9, 2015, edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co., host Stuart Varney and guest Tammy Bruce used a misleading report from the right-wing Cato Institute, which claimed that federal workers made 78 percent more than their private sector counterparts, to slam “super, super rich” public sector employees. [Fox Business Network, Varney & Co., 8/9/15, via Media Matters]
Right-Wing Media Hype Misleading Study That Blames Public Sector Unions For Creating Economic Inequality And Threatening “Fiscal Solvency.” In a September 30, 2015, op-ed for Forbes, conservative columnist Carrie Sheffield promoted a paper she published with the right-wing Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which scapegoated public sector employee unions as a key source of economic inequality. It also claimed that these unions threaten the “fiscal solvency of future generations” with their purportedly lavish compensation and benefits packages. Numerous right-wing outlets promoted the CEI paper as part of their ongoing anti-union, anti-federal government campaigns. [Media Matters, 9/30/15; 10/2/15]
Fox's Bolling Complained That Federal Salaries Are “Not Helping The Situation” With The National Debt. On the June 1, 2011, edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, Fox's Eric Bolling cited debunked and misleading statistics comparing federal employee compensation to private sector salaries to falsely claim that “federal employees make double their private counterparts.” Bolling complained that a federal pay freeze had failed to rein in “government gone wild,” and lamented that public employee compensation was “not helping the situation” with the then-$14 trillion national debt. [Fox News, America's Newsroom, 6/1/11, via Media Matters]
Fox's Charles Payne Cites Misleading Salary Comparison In Calling For Federal Pay Freeze. On the November 30, 2010, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Fox Business host Charles Payne argued that federal employee salaries should be frozen because “the average federal worker makes $123,000 versus $69,000” for private sector workers. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 11/30/10, via Media Matters]
Fox Cites Rand Paul As Proof That Federal Salaries Are “Over Twice That Of Non-Government Workers.” On the November 8, 2010, edition of Fox News' America Live, then-host Megyn Kelly aired a clip of newly elected Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) misleadingly comparing federal and private sector salaries before claiming that Fox's “brain room” had “pulled out some of these statistics” and found that “federal workers' average compensation is over twice that of non-government workers.” [Fox News, America Live, 11/8/10, via Media Matters]