June 23, 1981 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 13477 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE In addition, Mr. Speaker, I ask unan­ Alumni Association. "It's a matter of getting imous consent to have printed at this talented people to run the Federal govern­ point in the RECORD a very timely arti­ ment at the highest levels." HON. FRANK R. WOLF cle which appeared in the June 18, The private sector is reaping the benefits of the government brain drain. Now that OF VIRGINIA ·1981, edition of the Wall Street Jour­ the first space shuttle has been successfully IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES nal entitled "Uncle Sam's Hemorrhage completed, for instance, NASA expects to of Senior Managers." Tuesday, June 23, 1981 lose much of its team to private industry CFrom Newsweek, June 1, 19811 where salaries are sometimes triple what • Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I again THE FEDERAL BRAIN DRAIN NASA pays. "We're losing the best people rise to express my concern about the Roy McKinnon liked his job. In over 26 because there are jobs in industry for those adverse effects of the executive pay years as an FBI official, he headed the in­ people," says Dr. Robert Wiseman, who ceiling on the quality of our Senior vestigation into the 1969 murders of United hires scientists and engineers for the De­ Executive Service. As many are aware,· Mine Workers leader Joseph Yablonski and partment of the Army. The National Insti­ we are in the midst of a major exodus his family. helped negotiate an end to the tutes of Health has been rebuffed by five Indian uprising at Wounded Knee and last outside candidates for the top job in the of top managerial and technical talent Cancer Cause and Prevention Division be­ from our senior ranks. year he was promoted to an assistant direc­ tor of the bureau. But his $50,112-a-year cause the minimum salary of $50,112 is far Why? These employees have had a salary had been frozen by a pay cap ordered from competitive. single 5%-percent pay raise since 1977 by President Carter and a change in govern­ The drain is likely to continue. President while the cost of living has increased ment benefits threatened to cut his month­ Reagan has abandoned for now a campaign by over 47 percent during the same ly pension by $250 a month. So last Janu­ promise to raise executive salaries, and Con­ period. Because of the pay cap, we ary, at 50, McKinnon took early retirement. gress is prohibited by law from increasing now have some 33,000 top executives It wasn't just the money. "My career was the pay of the Senior Executive Service built on the credibility of the agents work­ without raising its own. And that, in the and lesser management employees all midst of budget cuts, is unlikely. Congress at the pay ceiling. As a result, in many ing for me," he says. "Under the circum­ stances people might have thought, · 'This could change the law and grant increases to cases, there are four to seven tiers of guy's a damn fool to stay on'." the bureaucratic elite, but it probably won't. management being paid the same McKinnon is not a statistic-one of hun­ "There's a kind of professional jealousy salary. With the upcoming October 1 dreds of top Federal employees who have on the Hill that if we can't get a raise, the increase, GS-14's will be paid the same left government recently. The resulting bureaucrats aren't going to get one either," salary as our top ES-6 senior execu­ "brain drain" is becoming so great that says one Congressional aide. In an age of many agencies can't find good managers or budget cuts and government-as-villain poli­ tives; an intolerable and inexcusable tics, the senior bureaucrats are not likely to situation. technical experts to run billions of dollars worth of programs. Within the last three win much public sympathy. But if the drain Within the last 3 years, retirement years, retirement of the highest-ranking continues, the Federal bureaucracy will end of the highest ranking Federal em­ Federal employees aged 55 to 59 has risen up even less efficient than it is now. ployees aged to 55 to 59 have risen from 18.2 percent to 95 percent. Many from 18.2 percent to 95 percent, and younger civil servants are quitting too, CFrom the Wall Street Journal, June 18, there is no question that pay is the taking private-sector jobs that pay up to 19811 cause of their unprecedented and triple their government salaries. They in­ UNCLE SAM'S HEMORRHAGE OF SENIOR alarming increase. And who is benefit­ clude some of the best and the brightest in MANAGERS ing from this exodus? The private government. including Dr. Robert Levy, <By Joann S. Lublin> As who ran the heart, lung, and blood program · sector. indicated in June 1, 1981, for the National Institutes of Health, and WASHINGTON.-The U.S. government fs suf­ Newsweek article entitled "The Feder­ Donald K. <Deke> Slayton, who was flight fering a serious "brain drain" of its most ex­ al Brain Drain," the private sector is test manager for NASA's space shuttle. "If perienced top managers and Congress could reaping the benefits of these unex­ you really want a bloated bureaucracy pop­ hardly care less. pected retirements. Now that the first ulated by incompetents who can't make it in Thus a promising experiment in improv­ Space Shuttle has been successfully the private sector, the surest way is to stay ing government efficiency may be in danger completed, for instance, NASA expects with the [pay] policies we're following of extinction. to lose much of its team to private in­ now," warns Rep. William Ford of Michi­ The experiment involves the Senior Exec­ gan. utive Service, created by the Civil Service dustry where salaries are sometimes Many say the problem began when Jimmy Reform Act of 1978. A cadre of top civil triple what NASA pays. "We're losing Carter tried to reform the civil service. In servantS gave up certain job protections in the best people because there are jobs an effort to improve incentives, a Senior Ex­ return for the right to win bonuses for supe­ in industry. for these people," says Dr. ecutive Service was created for about 8,000 rior performance. These officials oversee 1. 7 Robert Wiseman, who hires scientists top employees. They gave up some civil­ million workers and a nearly $700 billion and engineers for the Department of service job security in return for financial budget, so any boost in their productivity the Army. The Newsweek article goes incentives that included promises of hefty could have a vast ripple effect on govern­ on the cite similar problems at the Na­ pay increases and sizable bonuses for jobs ment efficiency, a much-stated goal of the well done. But, strapped for funds, Carter Reagan administration. tional Institutes of Health which has soon scaled down the bonuses and, except But the lack of any recent pay raises for been rebuffed by five outside candi­ for one small pay raise in 1979, decided not the 6,700 senior federal executives and the dates for the top jobs in the Cancer to remove a pay ceiling imposed in 1977. setting of limits on expected bonuses are Cause and Preventive Division because With their pay frozen, many employees hurting morale and contributing to an un­ the capped $50,112 salary is far from began to leave. In addition, the pay ceiling precedented wave of resignations and early competitive. produced a phenomenon called "pay com­ retirements. More than 45 percent of nearly Mr. Speaker_. I request that the pression." Executives in the top seven civil­ 1,000 senior executives polled recently said above mentioned Newsweek article be service categories ended up with the same they may leave the government within the $50,112 maximum salary. A- promotion no next two years. Many ag.encies also face in­ inserted in the RECORD, and, again, be­ longer meant a pay increase and an employ­ creasing difficulty in recruiting qualified re­ seech my colleagues in the Congress ee who managed 2,000 people often earned placements from the private sector. and the administration to focus their no more than his subordinates. "It's not a A report released yesterday by the Presi­ attention and efforts on resolving this matter of a living wage," insists Paul Lor­ dent's Advisory Committee on Federal Pay very serious problem. entzen of the Federal Executive Institute criticized the widening gap between federal e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by the Member on the floor. 13478 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS June 23, 1981 and private-sector salaries. "We're losing a Many bonus-winners leaving the govern­ was readopted Tuesday by the Senate on a serious investment in people" from the re­ ment land much better-paying jobs in the 21-9 vote after senators accepted several sulting "alarming" executive brain drain, private sector. Dr. Robert Levy, 44, is quit­ House amendments. , committee Chairman Jerome Rosow told a ting as head of the National Heart. Lung Lamm has voiced opposition to many as­ news conference. "You can always get a and Blood Institute to become Tufts Univer­ pects of the Sagebrush Rebellion, particu· warm body" to replace federal managers, he sity's health sciences vice president for larly the possibility of wilderness land being went on. "But what's the long-term twice his $60,000 government salary.