Federal Workers

After a 36-year career with the Postal Service, Yverne "Pat" Moore says she's living the life she started planning two decades ago, filled with church and community service, grandchildren and a trip to the other side of the world. The recently retired Ellicott City woman is part of a wave of workers who are leaving federal employment as baby boomers age out of the workforce and managers offer buyouts to help reduce spending. Those who have waited for the economy to stabilize are also now exiting.

Travelers gripe about having to remove shoes while going through airport security or undergoing full-body pat-downs. But imagine being the Transportation Security Administration screener who has to deal with thousands of grumpy passengers daily or must rummage through strangers' dirty underwear to look for items that could blow up a plane. It is not surprising that TSA employees rank among the federal workers who are least content with their jobs. Some of the most satisfied employees year-in, year-out work at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, according to the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit that encourages careers in government.

They haven't solved the nation's fiscal crisis yet, but an advocacy group forming Monday in Maryland already has accomplished another political miracle: bringing together the operatives of Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. A bipartisan coalition of business leaders and high-profile political aides - including the former chiefs of staff to O'Malley and Ehrlich - are launching a state chapter of the...

Federal officials shut the government down as Hurricane Sandy crashed ashore late last month, but NOAA employee Holly Bamford remained hard at work. While heavy rain and wind lashed her Silver Spring office, the National Ocean Service manager oversaw a massive real-time operation to monitor storm damage in coastal waterways - from debris in the Port of New York to shifting beaches on the Delmarva Peninsula - from the comfort and safety of her Montgomery County home. The government's efforts to promote telecommuting - intended to trim costs, ease traffic congestion and improve worker satisfaction - are also boosting productivity during major storms.

Their star quarterback remains on the field, but federal employee unions will continue to play defense in Congress. Labor leaders cheered the re-election of President Barack Obama, yet with no significant congressional changes - particularly in the House - they will fight the same battles. "President Obama's re-election is a victory not only for the country but for federal employees in particular, who would have suffered in countless ways under a Romney administration," J. David Cox Sr., president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said during a telephone news conference the day after the election.

Advocates for a host of Maryland interests — from the Chesapeake Bay to the defense industry — said Wednesday they are anxiously watching whether the election will change the political landscape here despite early indications that it probably won't. A divided Congress will remain in place come January, and lawmakers wasted little time in disagreeing about the meaning of President Barack Obama's victory. Both Democrats and Republicans claimed mandates from voters and signaled that they will hold firm on positions that have led to gridlock in the past.

Looming federal budget cuts make a whole lot of Marylanders nervous because a whole lot of Maryland depends on Uncle Sam for a paycheck - directly or indirectly. More than 300,000 Maryland residents work for the federal government, according to the state Department of Business and Economic Development. That's one in every 10 employed adults in the state. And that's just the start. Maryland is one of the nation's top recipients of federal spending on goods and services. Those billions of dollars supported about 230,000 jobs here at federal contractors and subcontractors in 2010, the state economic development agency estimated.

You can't blame federal workers if they're feeling like a punching bag for politicians these days. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney rallies supporters with claims that federal workers are overcompensated by as much as 40 percent. The Republican Party vows, in its platform, to reduce their numbers by 10 percent through attrition. President Barack Obama recently extended the federal pay freeze through next spring, at least. And some members of Congress - mostly Republicans - want to fire federal employees who are severely delinquent on their taxes.

With the economic recovery still sluggish, a donor pool laboring under a long-term pay freeze and uncertainty about looming budget cuts, organizers of the Combined Federal Campaign in the National Capital Area have reduced their fundraising goal for the 2012 giving season. After falling short of their goal of $68 million from Washington and the surrounding area each of the last two years, organizers of the annual charity drive are aiming this year for $62.5 million. It's the first time since the financial crisis of 2008 at least - and, possibly, ever - that they have lowered their sights.

Federal workers aren't the only ones anxious about looming budget cuts. Federal contractors - plentiful in Maryland - have a lot at stake, too. Mark Amtower, who helps companies market products and services to the federal government, thinks there's plenty of reason to worry. The most obvious challenge on the horizon is sequestration - the automatic cuts of $109 billion annually that are due to start in January if Congress cannot agree on deficit reduction. But Amtower sees other changes as well that he says make it more difficult for small companies selling, or hoping to sell, to Uncle Sam. He started his firm, Amtower & Co., in 1985 and runs it from his Highland home with his wife, Mary Ellen.