Labor chief faces challenges as advocate for federal workers?

For 13 years, Colleen Kelley has served as one of Washington’s leading advocates for federal workers.

As president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), Kelley has had a hand in every major deficit negotiation of the last year.

Her job has never been tougher

“This is the worst political climate for federal workers in decades,” Kelley told The Hill in an interview at her H Street headquarters. “You see these current attacks, they’re nonstop. Literally everyday there’s a new one aimed at federal employees.”

Kelley is now tracking two dozen bills in Congress aimed at reducing worker pay and benefits, the highest she has seen since joining NTEU in the 1970s as a worker at the IRS.