Hoyer says spending freeze should extend to the military

The second-ranking House Democrat said Monday that President Obama’s move to freeze the pay of civilian federal employees should be extended to military personnel as well.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) praised the president’s announcement of a two-year pay freeze, but he said including the military would have increased savings and added “an element of fairness.”

“While I appreciate that the president reduced the length of his proposed pay freeze from three to two years,” Hoyer said in a statement, “it would have produced significantly more savings had that sacrifice been shared between federal civilian and military personnel--with a strong exception for the members of our military and civilian employees risking their lives on our behalf in Afghanistan, Iraq, and anywhere else they are serving in harm's way.”

Hoyer will become the minority whip in the 112th Congress. He has made budgetary reform a signature issue, and he said he would review Obama’s proposal “for its balance between fiscal responsibility and the need to recruit and retain a federal workforce able to provide the level of service that the American people expect.”

The Maryland Democrat also urged the administration to a back a more comprehensive program to reduce the nation’s soaring deficit, along the lines of proposals from the president’s fiscal commission and a separate debt panel.