WASHINGTON, March 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. issued the following statement regarding the Senate's continuing resolution to extend the federal employee pay freeze through the remainder of 2013:

"Although new Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., fought valiantly to provide federal employees, white collar and blue collar, with a 0.5 percent pay raise beginning in April, Republican senators, including Ranking Member Richard Shelby, R-Ala., objected to even that small pay raise, even after the wealthiest contractors received a 10 percent pay increase. Federal employees now will have suffered three years of no pay raises, at the same time hundreds of thousands of them are facing multiple days of furloughs because of sequestration. It's hard to imagine the federal government becoming a less attractive employer than it is today after this decision."

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.

SOURCE American Federation of Government Employees