The House just voted on a proposal to extend President Obama’s (misnamed) “federal pay freeze” for another year. While Congress has better ways of reducing excessive federal compensation, this approach beats handing out an across-the-board raise. Americans should not have to take a vow of poverty to work in government, but neither should government workers be paid more than they’re worth. The federal government should pay its employees about what they would make in comparable private-sector jobs. It does not. Economists from across the political spectrum agree that, on average, the federal government pays more than the private sector for...
