The White House budget proposal kicks off a process of hearings and bill-crafting that begins with the House and Senate passing general outlines and then moves on to translating those provisions into appropriations bills—which by design are supposed to pass individually but in practice commonly have been combined in a late-year wrapup measure. The House goes first in that process and there’s a general expectation that it will repeat many of the proposals it has raised in the past—especially since the primary author of them, as Budget Committee chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was elevated to House Speaker last fall. These include reducing the federal workforce by 10 percent through attrition with exceptions for defense and security-related jobs; increasing the amount all employees must pay toward their retirement benefits to equalize the employee and government costs of retirement, meaning increasing the employee share by about 6 percentage points; ending the FERS special retirement supplement, a benefit add-on paid to many who retire before age 62; and shifting more of FEHB premium costs onto enrollees. Last year a new idea was added to the mix, decreasing the rate of return in the TSP’s government securities G fund in order to save interest costs to the government. Also, a long-dormant one was revived: limiting government contributions toward FEHB premiums for retirees who had relatively short working careers. Most years those ideas have seen no further attention after the House voted to approve them; however, two separate smaller increases in retirement contributions were enacted, although applying only to those hired after a subsequent date.