U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson will be watching federal employees’ backs if the 19-year congressman returns for another term, he said in Vicksburg Tuesday.

“There are some people out there that have a problem with federal employees,” Thompson told the Vicksburg Chapter of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. “They say you get paid too much, your retirement benefits are too generous. They do everything they can do to demonize the federal workforce. And that’s wrong, but they still do it.”

Thompson, 64, was first elected in 1993 and faces three opponents in the Nov. 6 general election — Bill Marcy, a Republican; Cobby Mondale Williams, an independent; and Lajena Williams of the Reform Party.

Thompson, the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, spoke in Vicksburg after he visited Port Gibson High School and Claiborne County Hospital earlier in the day. He said he would protect benefits for federal employees and continue to oppose any privatization of Social Security.

“There’s some people who want to do away with a defined pension and just do a 401(k),” he said. “Well, that’s all right, but those of you who’ve had a 401(k) know you have good years and bad years. A good year, you’re singing, ‘Oh, Happy Day.’ A bad year, not so good. It’s one of the reasons I opposed privatizing Social Security, because it’s tied to the stock market.”

Thompson offered few specifics on budget sequestration, or automatic spending cuts, set to take effect Jan. 2 if Congress doesn’t act. A sequestered budget year in calendar 2013 could result in more than 900,000 defense-related jobs lost among 1.4 million jobs lost overall, a report from the Congressional Research Service showed. However, a deal before the deadline isn’t out of the question, he said.

“I think somewhere between Nov. 13, when we go back, and Christmas, we’ll have some remedy worked out so sequestration won’t be the order of the day,” he said.

On income tax rates, Thompson favored a structure comparable to President Barack Obama’s intentions during the current campaign to let Bush-era tax cuts expire. About $500 billion in tax cuts will sunset on Jan. 1 after they were extended in 2011.

Thompson blamed lower tax rates at the top brackets for federal employees not having cost-of-living pay increases.

“I support the notion that those people who benefited by making significant money ought to pay a proportional share,” Thompson said. “There’s no reason why I can come up with a loophole to dodge paying taxes when other people who go to work every day and work hard pay a different rate. Just not right.”

The 2nd District includes Vicksburg and Warren County, most of Jackson and takes in all or parts of 26 counties, from Tunica to Jefferson.