Posted on 12/30/2012 10:27:43 AM PST by MinorityRepublican
WASHINGTON—The Pentagon is preparing to notify its entire civilian workforce to prepare for furloughs if Congress and President Barack Obama are unable to reach a deal before Jan. 2 to avert automatic spending cuts.
A senior defense official said Sunday that the Pentagon would notify 800,000 civilian workers to brace for furloughs in the new year, meaning the workers would be ordered to take mandatory leave without pay for a certain period. The warning is much gloomier than the agency recently offered employees, as it had said there wouldn't be an immediate impact on personnel or operations if a deal wasn't reached by January
The automatic spending cuts were put in place by the 2011 Budget Control Act and require $110 billion in spending reductions, split between defense programs and other domestic agencies. The cuts must take place in the first nine months of 2013, and then $110 billion in cuts will take place for eight additional years, under the conditions of the 2011 law. Democrats and Republicans have been working to replace or postpone the cuts but they have been unable to reach an agreement.
The Pentagon will be forced to cut $55 billion in spending in the first nine months of 2013, a roughly 10% reduction in many of its programs. The cuts would affect more than just the agency's workforce, as the White House has said the military's budgets for purchasing aircraft, ammunition, missiles and other items will be cut sharply.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Wow, so who is going to buy those Washington Redskins’ tickets now? We, the taxpayers, keep that team afloat, along with everything else in D.C.
There were few civilians associated with the tasking.
There are actually two events that are coinciding. There are the current tax rate expirations and medicare provider compensation reductions and mandated defense spending cuts. And there is the National Debt Limit.
The rate expirations are just that - GWBs tax deductions that will expire pushing income taxes back up to Clinton levels. The medicare provider compensation rate reductions are almost a yearly thing that Congress has been kicking down the road for decades it seems. Obama needs to keep his HHS/ACA doctors happy or they’ll revolt when the 2014 ACA draconian measures kick in.
Back about a year ago or so, the Debt Limit increase deal between Congress and the President included many things if a Blue Ribbon Commission couldn’t “work things out” by about now (spending).
Well, they haven’t, and the cuts are coming across the board in spending and Obama don’t like it one doggone bit because he can’t continue historical entitlement support levels, and with the DEBT LIMIT, he can’t add that extra 1 or 2 Trillion dollars of entitlement spending like he did in 2011/2012.
What does all this mean? Obama wants to extend the BUSH tax reductions - only for certain people - Obama people, and he wants to symbolically rape people who have been successful through hard work. HE KNOWS AND THE MEDIA KNOWs that if the tax rates expire, IT WILL PUSH the economic situation to a much, much worse level - HIGHER unemployment, LESS Federal Tax Revenue (cash hoarding will stop GDP expansion that brings more tax revenue and so on), and less money for “his” people.
Ordinarily, Obama would just tell little Timmy Geitner to have the Fed print up more cash to buy our own T-bills and he could kick the entitlement can (expanding) down the road four more years. With the DEBT LIMIT, he can’t (not legally, anyway). So he’s between a rock and a hard place.
If the Republicans didn’t do a deal - did nothing, he’d automatically have higher tax rates, less tax revenue, less medicare compensation payments and still have a debt limit that essentially limits his spending (and entitlement buyoffs) to what’s brought in - just like every hardworking family has to deal with week in week out.
That is why I don’t want a deal. I want him stopped, period. If it costs me $10 for a gallon of milk or gas, my SS check, whatever, it would be worth it to see him financially impotent. If this Democrat spend, spend, spend ideology is fully and completely discredited, then there is no hope for this country, and that will take some sacrifice.
You are correct about the defense contractors. The gov’t put them in that position by playing favorites. We now have a few companies that are controlling everything and we may not be getting the best products.
I think simple solutions like not replacing the PCs every two friggin years would save a ton of cash. We have to have the latest Windows whatever even though most just check and send emails. Not only do we replace every computer but we have to buy licenses for each one.
Go into any govt office and you will see lots of printers, shredders, copiers, hole punchers, etc. Seems like everyone have their own printer, fax, shredder etc. This is where all the waste is. They have spending controls but you can get around them.
Contractors are doing non military type work and this frees up the GIs to actually fight. For example take grass cutting on base. Back when the military had almost 3 million troops we had tons of GIs so we cut the grass and did all the custodial work in the offices.
That is not the case now. You don't have the bodies to spare to do non military work like cutting grass. It's cheaper and makes more sense to pay a contractor to do it.
Get rid of the contractors and you have to pull people to do these details. The grass would be cut but that airplane, tank or ship will not get fixed.
Thank you for that thoughful explanation. I don’t disagree that he needs to be stopped, even at a price, but I don’t see it happening.
He wants to go over “the cliff”. He’s already told Reid his terms which I’m sure stop at Bush tax rates for 250K and less, along with even more spending. He wants pain from the first paychecks in January. Then he will own Congress and be able to “give” obama “tax cuts”.
He knows he owns the microphone and noone but the Repub’s are being blamed. There will be so much nashing of teeth the longer this goes on in January/February, he figures he (and likely will) will own the negotiating process in both the tax rates, automatic spending cuts, and the debt limit expansion. By that time we will also be talking about being downgraded.....again.
I don’t disagree with your theory about stopping the spending; I just don’t see obama playing along or the Republicans being able to explain to the public what he is doing. Besides, too much of the public thinks it’s just fine to take more of some peoples’ money than others. We have an increasingly stupid and immoral society that don’t mind being takers, and in fact feel morally superior taking from others.
I just don’t see any good outcome from going over the cliff, from not going over the cliff....I’m quite pessimistic on how this will turn out. I wish I wasn’t. obama is out to screw this country, and he’s not losing any time. Until I see Repub’s (in force....not just Boehner)get in front of a camera and call him what he is........I know we’ll likely never beat him. I don’t think they know how or are able to outfox him. Besides, calling obama out for who he is.....is also calling out the majority who voted for him the same thing.
I want him stopped, as well. I hope your approach will work...I’m just not optimistic that it will.
The equipment wouldn't get fixed either since contractors do most of the day to day maintenance. GS civilians are another matter. There's bloat there and there's LOTS of useless PC crap that gets forced on the troops training schedule that could be eliminated saving time and money.
The vast majority of the of the DOD personnel cuts since the late 1980s have been to the uniformed active duty side.
That is true, but the military personnel cost a fortune! The civilian is expensive too but not nearly as expensive as the military personnel. Sorry but that is a fact.
Not sure where this is true but there are a lot of civilian wrench turners. There are whole sections with no military personel assigned even though they have the same career field.
True, but there are not nearly as many as there used to be. Most of those wrench turners were Wage Graders in the depots, and much of the depot work has been contracted out over the last few decades. The McClellan and Kelly depots were shuttered completely. Today, under the law, 50% of the depot maintenance can be outsourced to private industry. The Air Force has sought to increase that level due to increasing maintenance and modification needs. Increasingly, under a program called "Flexible Sustainment", the depot work is part of the original weapon system contract and is done by the weapon system's prime contractor.
At the same time, the desk-bound GS portion of the USAF civilians were cut less.
All because Obama wants to raise taxes!
What a shame.
When Obama just gets to the point of bypassing the legal debt limit and just keeps on printing money, the supply inflates, and with no real value behind it, the value inflates. My guess is the amount he’ll be printing will be epic, ala the Weimar Republic. The EBT $ amounts his leeches will get won’t buy very many Ding Dongs, Cheetos and Mac n’ Cheese....they are really gonna be ticked off.
I meant ......value DEFLATES....
These notices were supposed to have been sent out months before the election.
You remind me of of my college frat mate who has been a def con for the past 4 years. When he’s unemployed he just vacations and waits for the next call.
And to those out there who hope for a total demise of the federal civilian workforce, remember there are good, honest, Christian men and women who work for Uncle Sam who, while we don't agree with many of their policies or stances, still put in an honest day's work.
I can certainly understand why you would not want to see your job cut or furloughed. If you read my post you will see that I did not say “all” federal DOD jobs should be eliminated...but there are many that should be.
During my husbands 13 year active duty military career I have witnessed much waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars at the hands of DOD civilian employees. Again not all... but many.
Best of luck to you during our country’s current economic difficulty
IMHO, they lost because of the Democrats pandering. Most women voted for free birth control and free abortions. Homosexuals voted to legitimize their lifestyles and have their related ailments paid for. College kids with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debts for useless degrees in womyn's studies and such wanted their loans forgiven. And many unions wanted their man in place to continue running interference for them, as he did during the so-called rescues of GM and Chrysler. Although I was hoping for a replay of 1980, I doubt even Reagan could have won in this environment.
They (the GOP) have been distancing themselves from their social conservative base since the election, and depending on how the 2nd amendment fight plays out they will lose those they have left.
They were distancing themselves before the election. The result was that many who might have voted for their candidates stayed home. And then we add Akin's "legitimate rape" comments and "Rev." Mourdock preaching about God's will to the mix, and many others may have been too embarrassed to vote GOP.
They are going to the mattresses to protect a few percentage points of the vote, while alienating whole groups.
You mean like the groups I listed above? The GOP had no chance with them, and won't until the money to pay for all of the freebies runs out.
Besides, Romney wasn't that far off in the popular vote. A more enthusiastic voting block may have won it for him.
They are allowing the MSM and Obama to dictate the narrative, and have been reading the same script.
I agree. During the fiscal cliff debates, the GOP should be screaming "cut spending" at the top of their lungs, and producing the numbers to back it. They won't win the voters who want to keep their freebies, but they just may inspire those of us who are tired of paying for their freebies. As it is, I've heard little from them about this.
And the lefties aren't going to vote Republican anyway, so they have nothing to lose by standing for Conservative values. They might even inspire a few more to support them.
Looks like they decided to kill the military first.
Still, the GOP needs to walk away from this one. There is no upside to going over the cliff. That is what the MSM and Obama want. Doing so will so weaken the GOP that they will lose big in the mid terms. Simply put, the majority of the people don't want a tax increase and massive spending cuts. It would provide hours of crying single women who just got laid off of their EPA/DOD jobs saying they have no place to go, along with pictures of families living on the street because of unemployment cuts.
How do you think that will play?
Go outside of the echo chamber that is FR. Look at how people are viewing this, and how they will view the cliff. Most don't care about millionaires, and that includes many farmers I know (they have the land in trust or a corporation to shelter from the inheritance tax). When next pay day comes, and they have a 2% pay cut, with more to follow, how do you think they will respond?
Elections have consequences. There are much larger fights ahead. For the GOP to spend all of their remaining political capital on a fight that they can't win one way or another is madness.
That is why the US is using mercenaries in more and more roles.
A private costs much more during his active and retired life time than a merc.
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