Boxer, Grassley Applaud Senate Armed Services Committee for Efforts to Limit Contractor Pay

Defense Authorization Bill Includes Reforms Boxer and Grassley Have Long Sought to Curb Exorbitant Taxpayer-Funded Salaries

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) today praised the Senate Armed Services Committee for including a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to cap taxpayer-funded salaries for defense contractors at $230,700. Under the current federal compensation benchmark, contractors are allowed to received taxpayer-funded salaries as high as $763,029 – an increase of $70,000 from the previous year.

The amendment by Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), which was approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee, builds on legislation that Senators Boxer and Grassley have introduced to curb taxpayer-funded salaries to contractors.

“This important reform will help rein in the exorbitant taxpayer-funded salaries paid to top defense contractor employees,” Senator Boxer said, “I want to thank Senator Manchin who worked with committee leaders to get this amendment approved, and I pledge to work to make sure this new limit becomes law.”

“Slowly, but surely, progress is being made on this issue. Private companies can pay their employees whatever they want, but federal contractors should not be able to pass on salary costs to taxpayers that are more than three times what a member of the President’s cabinet makes,” said Senator Grassley.

In March, Senators Boxer and Grassley introduced the Commonsense Contractor Compensation Act of 2012, S. 2198, which would lower the maximum amount taxpayers reimburse all government contractors for their salaries. Last year, Senators Boxer and Grassley succeeded in extending the federal salary cap to all defense contractor employees – not just the top five employees – as part of the National Defense Authorization Act approved in December of 2011. ###