President Obama to Freeze Federal Workers' Pay

President Obama today proposed a a two-year freeze in civilian federal worker pay for calendar year 2011-2012.

“I did not reach this decision easily,” Obama said from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, “This is not just a line-item on a federal ledger. These are people's lives.”

The freeze is expected to save $2 billion for the fiscal year 2011 and will save $28 billion when you combine the savings from this year’s freeze, and the second year freeze 2012 across the next 5 years.

It is expected to save $60 billion in total over the next 10 years.

“The hard truth is that getting this deficit under control is going to require some broad sacrifice,” Obama said, “and that sacrifice must be shared by the employees of the federal government.”

The president noted that this freeze does not apply to military personnel.