Proposals to Curb Federal Salaries, Benefits Weighed: Limits on Federal Pay And Benefits Weighed
Congressional Republicans seeking ways to reduce the deficit are considering a 5 percent pay cut for members of Congress and other top government officials, a pay freeze for other federal workers and a two-thirds reduction in inflation adjustments for all major benefit programs, including Social Security and government pensions.</br></br>While no decisions have been made, proposals for limits on government salaries and retirement benefits appeared to he gaining momentum as Congress continued groping for alternatives to President ReaganÛªs budget.</br></br>Sen. -lesse Helms (R-N.C.) suggested a 5 percent cut for senior government officials at a meeting Wednesday of the Steering Committee, an informal group of conservative Republican senators that he heads. Although some Senate leaders dismissed the proposal as unlikely to survive, Helms said he had gotten nothing but positive responses from his colleagues.</br></br>Û¢ Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who has championed the cause of federal pay increases in Congress, told reporters that he was ÛÏnot. too happyÛ about proposals to cut pay for top executives only a year after Congress finally agreed to raise their long-frozen salaries.</br></br>But he said civilian government pay may have to he frozen at all levels next year and military pay limited to an increase of .Û÷1 to 5 percent. Reagan has proposed pay increases of 5 percent for civilian workers and 8 percent for the military.