Here is a chart from OpenSecrets.org showing how much money government employee unions have contributed to each major political party in the United States:
Given this data, is there any doubt why the party in power has been so reluctant to cut government spending? For example, for 2008 the difference in contributions was 89 percent to 11 percent in favor of Democrats. This doesn’t bode well for bridging the compensation gap between the public and private sectors.