Save Interior From The Pollution Of Privatization

(Washington, D.C.)—Today Bobby L. Harnage, Sr., National President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), issued this statement today after Representatives Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Tom Davis (R-VA) agreed to withdraw their amendment to strike Section 335 of the Interior Appropriated Bill, a bipartisan provision which would put the brakes on the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) wholesale privatization effort in the Department of Interior and related agencies, including the Forest Service and the National Park Service.

“AFGE appreciates that bipartisan opposition to the OMB privatization quota forced Representatives Sessions and Davis to back down and withdraw their amendment, even with a veto threat looming.

“We will work with a broad coalition of labor, environmental, public interest, and civil rights organizations to retain the provision in conference. It’s time to end the pollution of privatization in the Department of Interior and rely instead on our dedicated federal employees; they can always be counted on to put the public’s interest first.

“We know that our fight is not over. We look forward to working with Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate to make sure this bipartisan measure becomes the law of the land, sparing America’s natural treasures from the pollution of privatization.”

The American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, is the largest union for government employees, representing 600,00 federal workers in the United States and overseas, as well as employees of the District of Columbia. Learn more about AFGE at www.afge.org.

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The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 670,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia. For the latest AFGE news and information, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.