President of the National Treasury Employees Union, Doreen Greenwald, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to talk about funding of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and potential cuts to the agency. She also discussed adequately funding the government through the IRS and why the government is dealing with a workforce deficit.
Greenwald discussed her transition over the past eight months after becoming NTEU President. She then addressed several issues with the government’s funding of the IRS, and how she has been helping to find a solution. Greenwald talked about the history of the IRS and the way it utilized Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding to help improve staffing levels. The recent agreement by Congress to raise the debt ceiling reduced a potential funding cut for the IRS from $80 billion to roughly $20 billion. However, the loss of $20 billion in IRA funding still creates questions pertaining to staffing and hiring levels.
The NTEU has always pushed for the proper funding of the IRS, and Greenwald explained the important role the agency plays in funding the government. With a divided Congress that struggles to pass legislation, including funding bills, she is concerned that future funding bills will hamper the IRS’s ability to remain adequately staffed. Greenwald talked about the recently passed funding bill and how President Joe Biden helped to ensure the agency would not suffer from additional downsizing.
She then compared the wages and benefits federal employees receive compared to the private sector. Greenwald said that while the federal government is hiring, it is losing potential employees to the private sector due to lower wages and poorer benefits. She addressed efforts by the NTEU to fight against those issues and how improving wages and benefits will attract the best and brightest into the government’s workforce.
Listen to the episode above to hear more from Greenwald on the work being done to help members of the NTEU.
America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.
America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.
