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Senate votes to continue $230 monthly transit benefit

The tax package passed by the Senate will keep the current levels of the monthly transit benefit for federal employees. The House is expected to vote on the pac...

Federal News Network Staff

December 15, 2010 4:39 pm

1 min read

The Senate passed today a tax package that includes the extension of the $230 monthly transit benefit for employees who use public transportation to get to and from work.

The $858 billion package now goes to the House for an expected vote on Thursday, Democratic House leaders said.

Without the Senate’s passage of the package, the transit benefit would have reverted to $120 month in January, said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, in a statement.

The Senate vote included a 2 percent tax cut for those covered under social security. This tax break applies to federal workers under the Federal Employees Retirement System but not to feds under the Civil Service Retirement System, who are not covered by social security. Kelley said in the statement that excluding the CSRS employees in a tax break is “unfair.”

The Senate package also overturns the Coburn Amendment that had called for a three-year pay freeze and a 10 percent reduction in the federal workforce.

A two-year pay freeze for federal employees is currently in the Senate’s omnibus bill, which will be voted on this week. The House’s continuing resolution, which has passed, also contains a two-year pay freeze for federal employees.

Federal News Radio’s Jolie Lee and the Associated Press contributed to this report.