‘Stand Up, Speak Out,’ To Congress
“I’m going to wear this with pride all day long,” Rep. James P. Moran said about the “Proud To Be a Federal Employee” button presented to him by a NARFE member.
“It’s important, as you go around, to talk in terms of the mission – of what you all do and what federal employees do,” Wolf advised. The Secret Service agent who stopped the bullet that would have killed President Ronald Reagan, the CIA agent who was the first American killed in the fighting in Afghanistan, the scientists mapping the human genome and tracking hurricanes, and the astronauts circling the globe in the international space station – “all federal employees,” he said. Although the four congressional speakers all hailed from the Washington, DC, area, Edwards pointed out that the Washington metropolitan area is the home of only 700,000 of the nation’s 2.8 million federal employees. “What that means is that, in every state and probably every congressional district, there is a federal employee who should put on a pair of sneakers and go see a member of Congress and talk to them about the important and unique role that federal employees play,” she said. “As much as anything else, Photos by Mike Theiler
members of Congress need to put a face and a name to a job, so that they understand who you are and what you represent. It is so different from just getting a piece of paper in the office – and that is why your being here today is so important.” Sarbanes urged the NARFE reps to go forward with confidence. Most Americans understand that federal employees are the ones who write Social Security checks and process veterans’ claims, he said, “which just goes to show how hard the critics and those on the other side who are trying to demonize the federal worker are working every day to undermine that image.” Federal employees and retirees need to work hard, too, the speakers said. “Stand up and speak out,” urged Moran. “Make clear to members of Congress that you are going to hold them accountable for the attitudes they have and, most important, the votes that they cast for or against the strength of this country.” ★
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