Federal employees don’t like the idea, but they could see theway their pensions are calculated change from an average of thehighest-paid three years to an average of the highest-paid fiveyears.

That’s the proposal from Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Arkansas, whohas introduced H.R. 1230, legislation that would make the changebeginning Jan. 1, 2017.

According to calculations made by the Congressional BudgetOffice, the change would result in savings of $3.1 billion over 10years.

Not just federal civil service employees but members of Congressand their staffs also would be covered by the new legislation. Itdoes not, however, apply to members of the military.

“This bill would simply change the formula for determiningpension benefits for civilian federal employees from thebest-earning three years to the best-earning five years of service.The bill ensures that the program employees of the federalgovernment have paid into for their careers is available inretirement and sustainable for future generations,” Westerman saidin a statement.

“We strongly oppose Rep. Westerman’s bill,” J. David Cox,president of the American Federation of Government Employees, saidin a statement.

“Federal employees already have lost $159 billion in earnings dueto pay freezes, pension cuts, and similar maneuvers that made themthe scapegoat for an economic downturn they had no part increating. Federal employees are working-class people just like mostother Americans, and singling them out for more pain and sacrificeis just plain wrong.”