An amendment to the Defense authorization bill containing several federal employee benefits, including the FERS sick leave credit, was withdrawn Thursday.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., an outspoken critic of what he deems unnecessary federal spending, said he planned to talk on the Senate floor Thursday until cloture — a vote to end debate on an issue — was offered on the amendment.

"We've institutionalized sick leave. We've made it an entitlement," he said, criticizing the expansion of benefits for employees he said already are paid better, enjoy better benefits and have more job security than most taxpayers.

After several hours, the amendment's main sponsor, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, acquiesced and withdrew the amendment, saying he will look for other bills to offer the amendment to.

Akaka led the floor debate on the amendment, which he said was a necessary measure to improve the quality of life for federal employees, many of whom work at the Defense Department.

"Each of these provisions is much needed and has been thoroughly debated by the appropriate committees in the House and Senate," Akaka said on the floor.

But Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., questioned the relevancy of the amendment, which was nearly 20 pages long. He said the amendment contained too many items and added new spending to the bill with no explanation of how the benefits would be paid for.

"Let me point out that the chair and ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee have looked at these issues as well, and I'm wondering why it was not included in the Homeland Security appropriations [bill] since we just finished that," McCain said.

The amendment would have provided the following federal employee benefits:

• It would allow Federal Employees Retirement System employees to credit unused sick leave as time worked when annuities are calculated, a benefit Civil Service Retirement System employees already have. Supporters say the benefit would help prevent employees from using excessive sick leave prior to retirement. Estimates say the problem costs $68 million in lost productivity.

• Agencies would be allowed to temporarily rehire federal retirees and pay them their full salaries. Right now, agencies must obtain a waiver from the Office of Personnel Management to do that, or bring back federal employees and dock their pay by the amount of annuity they receive. Senators, such as Susan Collins, R-Maine, have argued in favor of the provision to bring in talent quickly during emergencies, such as recruiting retired auditors to monitor stimulus spending.

• It would provide locality pay for federal employees in Hawaii, Alaska and U.S. territories, replacing the current cost-of-living allowances.

• It would allow the recalculating of annuities, based on full-time salaries, for CSRS employees who work part-time at the end of their careers.

The House passed its version of the Defense authorization bill June 25, which contained all of the federal employee changes except the rehired annuitant provision. Differences in the House and Senate versions of the Defense authorization bill will be ironed out at a conference committee.

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