Reducing the Size of the Federal Government Through Attrition Act of 2011 - Requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to take appropriate measures to ensure that: (1) the total number of federal employees, beginning in FY2015, does not exceed 90% of the total number of such employees as of September 30, 2011; (2) agencies do not appoint, until the end of FY 2014, more than one employee for every three employees retiring or otherwise separating from government service; and (3) there is no increase in the procurement of service contracts due to this Act unless a cost comparison demonstrates that such contracts would be financially advantageous to the federal government. Requires OMB to continuously monitor all agencies and make a determination whether the total number of federal employees exceeds the limitation imposed by this Act. Prohibits a federal agency from filling any vacancy unless OMB provides written notice to the President and Congress that the number of federal employees does not exceed the limitation established by this Act. Allows the President to waive the workforce limitations imposed by this Act if the President determines that the existence of a state of war or other national security concern or the existence of an extraordinary emergency threatening life, health, public safety, property, or the environment so requires. Allows the President additional discretion to waive such workforce limitations if the President determines that the efficiency of a federal agency or the performance of its critical mission so requires.

$230 a Month Transit Subsidy Expires December 31, 2011 AUSAs and all federal employees will receive less money in transit subsidies in 2012 if Congress doesn't approve an extension for the current benefit by the end of this year. Congress is considering the Commuter Benefits Equity Act (H.R. 2412 and S. 1034), which establishes permanent parity between the current parking tax benefit and the mass transit benefit. Currently, both benefits amount to $230 per month, but after Dec. 31, the mass transit benefit reverts to $120 per month. Congress boosted the transit benefit in previous legislation and in 2010 extended it through 2011.

The gap between federal government and private sector workers' pay has increased 2 percentage points since last year, an official reported during a Federal Salary Council meeting on Friday. Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicate federal employees were paid 24 percent less on average than their private sector counterparts in 2010, compared to 22 percent less in 2009, Allan Hearne, General Schedule team leader at the Office of Personnel Management, told the council. The report affects the 70 percent of the federal workforce paid under the GS system.

Federal Retirement Annuities to Increase through COLAs Federal retirees will receive a cost of living adjustment (COLA) to their civil service annuities beginning in January 2012. Retirees in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) will receive a 3.6 percent increase to their annuities, while retirees in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) will receive a 2.6 percent increase to their annuities. COLAs for CSRS and FERS retirees are based on the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index. This increase will be one of the larger federal retiree COLAs in recent years and will follow two years of no COLA increases in 2010 and 2011. To trigger a COLA for 2012, the average CPI-W for the months of July, August, and September of 2011 needed to rise above the 2008 average for those same months, the last measurement to trigger a COLA (for 2009). It did, by 3.6 percent. While CSRS retirees receive the full amount of the CPI-W increase as a COLA, current law reduces the FERS COLA by 1 percentage point for increases above 3 percent.