By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
In the midst of the government shutdown, the FBI Agents Association issued a statement assuring the public agents will continue to do their job.
At the same time, the association in its statement is pushing for better pay and tax relief for agents who are transferred:
“Due to years of pay freezes, federal employee pay lags significantly behind the private sector, and this disparity makes it more difficult to recruit skilled professionals to government service. At a minimum, the 1.9% pay increase for federal employees that the Senate passed with over 90 votes should become law and applied retroactively to 2019 wages when the shutdown ends.
Special Agents can be transferred to different offices around the country and the world to meet the needs of the FBI. The 2017 tax law eliminated the moving expense deduction, which offset the relocation expense burden for Special Agents and their families. As a result, moving reimbursements are now considered taxable income. FBIAA urges Congress to enact legislation to provide tax relief to Special Agents similar to the bipartisan Relocation Expense Parity Act that was introduced during the last Congress.”
As for protecting the nation, the association stated:
“As the country celebrates the New Year, the American public can be assured that the FBIAA’s membership—which includes nearly 13,000 Special Agents of the FBI are on the job 24-hours a day, seven days a week to protect our country from criminal and terrorist threats. These men and women are doing so while facing a confluence of policies and gridlock that are causing financial hardship for Agents and their families.
FBIAA members and others are currently working without pay or paid leave because of a fourth government shutdown in five years. The FBIAA calls on elected officials to work together to end the shutdown and restore Agents’ pay.
