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FederalTimes.com: Bracing for Furloughs: DoD, others begin detailed sequester planning (I'm stressed)

Fergasun

By Fergasun
in The Tailgate

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WakkaWakka

WakkaWakka

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For any of you Feds:

 


http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/07/secretary_of_defense_chuck_hag.html



Furlough is here to stay for 2013, Secretary of Defense
Chuck Hagel said this week, ending the hopes of those who thought the Pentagon
might yet cancel or lower the number of days of unpaid leave workers are
scheduled to take through the end of the fiscal year.



 

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Fergasun

Fergasun

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I've been following the things Hagel has been saying this week.  At least he manned up and said it was his decision to furlough all the services equally, which I'm still not sure is lawful for him to do.  At my agency we've got plenty of money and all furlough is doing is pissing off hardworking people like myself.  I was previously not shy about putting in "unpaid volunteer" time to get the job done, but now.... they've made it clear they don't want the job done and don't care about us.  This is because our agency put in huge restrictions on spending when sequestration came down.

 

Hagel has mentioned that right now he can't guarantee it will be lower than 11, but also said he hopes we'll be able to get to September and cut a couple days off.  I took measures to protect my family for these 3 months, but if furloughs go into 2014 and they structure them the same way as this year (compress it all into a 20% pay cut) it'll hurt a ton more. 

 

The problem I have now is that he's been throwing around $52B vs. $37B to indicate that 2014 is going to be worse.  Well... that $37B was over the last 6 months, so technically speaking our cut/spend rate is going to be a little bit better in 2014 since we won't have to take the cuts so drastically. 

 

I would like to see Congress take action on the furloughs vs. Hagel, but I know which party drove sequestration, drove using the debt limit as leverage and is driving to do so again. 

 

I still have a hard time understanding if sequestration is good policy-wise.  In my mind we pretty much reached the event horizon in February 1996... that's when we hit our first national debt of $5T.  All these people yelling about the debt now, where were they then (I bet a few of them were cutting their teeth in Congress).  If we had no intention of paying back that first $5T, why do we care how much we run the debt to?  (I know, there's something about the debt:GDP).  

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pointyfootball

pointyfootball

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the cool thing is that Mr. Pres will be vacationing in Marthas Vineyard - on the heels of a 100 million dollar Africa trip.

 

Way to tighten that belt!

It is frustrating, but this can't be pinned only on the president.  Congress is just as much to blame and they're getting ready for their summer recess. 

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Fergasun

Fergasun

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What annoys me more is that you can't find any Congressman who has taken to the floor and takl about how great these cuts are for saving money (10 have taken to the floor and denounced these cuts).  Yet, I think they could make  a deal to offset $10B this year (divided between ($5B) of the worst cuts in defense and $5B of the worst cuts in non-defense) by takinhg money out of the outs years of sequestration (heck they could take it out of 2016-2017)..  Given that I've not seen any indication of a deal to end sequestration, I'm pretty sure the GOP/TEA Party shouldn't worry about no follow through on these cuts.

 

Otherwise it's, "Hooray, we really, *really* don't care about the middle class."  Every week and furlough day that continues makes me turn against both parties. 

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twa

twa

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Bernanke just said that the economy has slowed one to one and a half percent because of the sequester too. Winning all around.

a clear sign we need to change from the govt being the economy

 

helicopter drop baby

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  • 2 weeks later...
airborneskins

airborneskins

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http://www.federalnewsradio.com/1103/3413329/Defense-furloughs-cut-from-11-days-to-6-

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. defense officials say they will be able to ease the pain of mandatory, unpaid furloughs that civilian employees have had to bear for a month because of budgetary pressures. The Associated Press learned that civilians facing 11 unpaid days off will have those cut to six days. Officials say the Pentagon found sufficient savings in the final months of the current fiscal year to lessen the burden on those who have had to take a day off a week without pay since early July. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel approved the final numbers this week after meeting with top leaders. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The decision comes as about 650,000 civilian workers began their fifth week of furloughs.

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The Evil Genius

The Evil Genius

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I'm thankful that they ended them early and am hopeful that they won't use them as a crutch next FFY. That said, I'm even more thankful that we could afford to lose 20% of her salary for the 6 weeks. I know quite a few people who weren't as fortunate.

 

To me, furloughs will always be a giant mistake.

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