The Foreign Service Journal, December 2008

DE C EMB E R 2 0 0 8 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 65 A F S A N E W S Kerry, D-Mass.) on a voice vote with bi- partisan support and no opposition. Like theHFACvote, the SFRCaction is a result of expandingawareness onCapitolHill that the large and growing cut in base pay imposed on the entry- and mid-level Foreign Service is a serious disincentive to overseas service. Disincentives to Service The current 20.89-percent overseas pay gap undermines, and often totally negates, traditional hardshipanddangerpay allowances. AFSAcalculates that entry- and mid-level Foreign Service members now take a pay cut to serve at 183 of 268 over- seas posts (68percent), including suchdan- ger-pay posts as Amman, Bogota and Tel Aviv. At another 42 posts — those at the 25-percent hardship level — the net incentive is now under 4 percent and will drop below zero as early as January 2010 unless the overseas pay gap is closed. This wouldsubject entry- andmid-level employ- ees at 84 percent of overseas posts to what is, in effect, disincentive pay. Losing the equivalent of one year’s salary for every four or five years served abroad has devastating long-termfinancial conse- quences. This is especially true for Foreign Service families already suffering the loss of income from a spouse who cannot find employment overseas. Add that to the fact that almost all current entry- andmid-level Foreign Service members are required to be in the “new” retirement system that depends on the vulnerable Thrift Savings Plan to provide themajority of retirement income, and the result is a “perfect storm” of financial disincentives to join and remain in the Foreign Service. On the Fast Track Immediately after the SFRCpassed the AFSA-supported pay gap bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., placed the bill on a fast track for a vote by the full Senate. That procedure, reason- ably enough, allows any senator who has unansweredquestions about a bill toplace a “hold” on a final vote until those ques- tions are answered. AFSA learned that at least one senator placed such a holdon the pay-gapbill. Because Senate tradition pro- hibited our supporters on the Hill from telling us who placed the hold, AFSA Director of LegislativeAffairs IanHouston began making scores of calls to retired Foreign Servicemembers in several states asking them to help us find out, as well as lobby for passage of the bill. In short order, as calls flooded into several Senate offices fromForeign Service constituents, the office of Senator Tom Coburn, R- Okla., confirmed that he had placed the hold. AFSA is grateful to allmembers who stepped up on short notice tomake these calls. At that point, AFSAreachedout toSen. Coburn’s staff, offering to answer ques- tions they had about the details of the bill and the growing problem that it address- es. These contacts built on our outreach to the senator’s office over the past two years. Late in the evening of Sept. 26, AFSA President John Naland contacted our nation’s senior career diplomat, Under Secretary for Political Affairs Bill Burns, to brief himon the status of AFSA’s efforts to advance thepay-gap legislation. Thereafter, Secretaryof StateCondoleezzaRice,Depu- ty Secretary of State John Negroponte, Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy,USAIDAdministratorHenrietta Fore and subject-matter experts on their staffs began making calls to key members on the Hill and their staff to push for pas- sage. SecretaryRice, inparticular, usedher uniquely influential position to personal- ly advocatewithkey lawmakers inaneffort to advance the bill. Unfortunately, in events reminiscent of late 2006 when the 109th Congress failed toadvance apay-gap fixdue to last-minute questions by a few lawmakers, time ranout for Senate andHouse actionbefore the law- makers broke for the pre-election recess. This time, however, the effort stayed alive due to plans by Congress to return for a short session beginning Nov. 17. At press time, the final outcome was unclear. AFSAwill keepmembers updat- ed via AFSAnet, ALDAC cable and post- ings on our Web site. Closing the Pay Gap • Continued from page 59 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Inside a U.S. Embassy : Diplomacy in Action A FSA isworkingon the third edition of our popular book, and we need to hear from you. MostAmericans still donotunderstand the roleofU.S. embassies and,morebroad- ly, of diplomacy. Getting that story out is more critical than ever. Inside aU.S. Embassy is one of AFSA’s best resources for educating the public about the role of the U.S. Foreign Service. It does this by introducing real people in real jobs. “What is a typical day?” This is themost frequent questionpeo- ple askwhen looking at theForeignService career. We’re seeking day-in-the-life submissions that provide anhour-by-hour description of an interesting, and recent, day on the job in the Foreign Service. We want to feature awidevarietyof geographic locations,mission types andFS positions. Please aim for 700-900 words. “There are no typical days.” Foreign Service personnel are on the front lines of history, andwewant to illus- trate the extraordinary. We’re looking for tales of the Foreign Service in action dur- ing times of change—political upheaval, delicate negotiations, natural disasters— handling the everyday, not-so-ordinary events of diplomatic life. Please aim for 700-900 words. Deadline: January 15 Send your submission or questions to Inside Embassy Editor ShawnDorman at dorman@afsa.org. Please see excerpts fromthe current edition at www.afsa.org/ inside. Help AFSA get the Foreign Service story right!