(U.S. SENATE) – In an era when government is doing more with less, Senator Jon Tester is making sure that executives at government contractors get the message.
Tester is supporting a bipartisan bill that cuts taxpayer-supported pay to government contractors by up to 75 percent. Currently, the top executives at government contractors can receive up to nearly $800,000 in taxpayer-funded salary – with that amount set to rise to $950,000 later this year.
Tester’s measure, which will save taxpayers more than $400 million, limits taxpayer-funded pay for contractor executives to the salary of the Vice President of the United States, which is $230,700.
“As our economy continues to rebuild and Americans look for work, we need to make responsible decisions about how we use every taxpayer dollar,” said Tester, a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. “With folks across Montana making sacrifices and government services stretched, there’s no reason for taxpayers to be paying contractors more than they pay their leaders.”
The salary cap limits the taxpayer contribution for a contractor’s top five executives.
Tester noted that lowering the cap will not hurt a company’s quality of work or its ability to offer competitive salaries, as it only limits the share of taxpayer dollars going toward an executive’s salary.
The salary cap is set by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, which is guided by Congress.
Tester, as chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the federal workforce, is a strong voice in the debate surrounding the role of contractors in the federal government. Following the recent NSA scandals, he called a hearing and grilled representatives from several federal agencies on the effectiveness of contractor background checks.
Tester’s bipartisan bill, the Commonsense Contractor Compensation Act, is sponsored by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). It is available online HERE.