Free Republic

In addition to leaving Inspector General posts at key agencies vacant, a March 5 report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform claims the Obama administration has ignored 16,906 recommendations from 73 agency OIG’s that could potentially save taxpayers $67 billion per year. “This report chronicles $67 billion in unimplemented reforms that non-partisan Inspectors General have identified,” said Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R–CA). “President Obama should listen to the recommendations of his Administration’s own Inspector Generals and work with Congress to implement common sense spending cuts that target wasteful and poorly performing programs instead of settling for the...

The sequester cuts have grounded the Thunderbirds and other U.S. military flight demonstration teams, but it hasn’t stopped Air Force Academy graduates from getting their own ceremonial flyover. With the help of donations, nine World War II era planes, flown by pilots from the Texas Flying Legends Museum and the National Museum of World War II Aviation, performed at the U.S. Air Force Class of 2013 commencement ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Wednesday.

Yup, 11 Mondays of furlough starting 8 July until the end of the fiscal. We had a briefing today from our GO (Major General, USA) and FY14 & 15 is not looking good. Reduction in force (RIF) looks probable for both the active and civilian Army force. Myself - being associated , active duty (Navy), contractor or civilian with the military since I was 17, it is very depressing. I am the first to admit that there are areas of personnel waste to trim, but we are at the point of "gutting" our defense. IMOHO This may be worse then...

The budget cuts known as sequestration were supposed to wreak havoc, forcing the shrinking of critical workforces including airport security officers and food inspectors. But since sequestration kicked in March 4, the government has posted openings for 4,300 federal job titles to hire some 10,300 people. The median position has a salary topping out at $76,000, and one-fourth of positions pay $113,000 or more, according to an analysis by The Washington Times of federal job listings. Altogether, the jobs will pay up to $792 million per year. Including job postings that have been open since before sequestration, the government is...

The “World Famous Rocketeers” were flying high two months ago. The Air Force fighter squadron had returned safely with its F-15E Strike Eagles and aircraft crews from a six-month Middle East deployment, and in March the entire wing passed a readiness evaluation with an unusually high rating. That was then. In April, the Air Force ordered the Rocketeers — more formally, the 336th Fighter Squadron — to stop flying because of the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration. Now, the squadron’s two dozen F-15s are parked underneath canopies on the flight line, with red covers over their gaping afterburners to...

The day after a four-lane interstate bridge in Washington state collapsed, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is using the incident to blame Republicans for the "dangerous consequences" of the sequestration spending cuts that started in March. "For 62 days, the American people have waited for House Republicans to move forward with the budget process and replace the devastating sequester cuts that are slashing into our country's safety net, national security, and public infrastructure," Pelosi's office said in a press release. "Yesterday, an Interstate 5 bridge north of Seattle collapsed after an oversized truck hit the structure. Thankfully, no one...

WASHINGTON, May 23 (UPI) -- The Internal Revenue Service and three other U.S. government agencies will be closed Friday as employees take a forced unpaid holiday due to spending cuts. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Office of Management and Budget are also set to be closed due to furloughs, CNN Money reported. The one-day shutdown of the IRS, at a time when many people want to know when to expect their tax refund checks, is likely to have the most noticeable impact, CNN said. snip IRS offices and hotlines will...

The Obamas announced today that they will be hosting another “Performance at the White House” event on May 28 to honor American singer and songwriter Carole King: As part of their “In Performance at the White House” series, the President and First Lady will host a concert in the East Room honoring singer-songwriter Carole King, who will be awarded the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. President Obama will present the award as he did when the Library of Congress honored Stevie Wonder (2009), Sir Paul McCartney (2010), and the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal...

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama urged Congress on Thursday to fund upgrades to US embassy security around the world, as a way of truly honouring the memory of four Americans killed in Benghazi. Obama made the call in his latest bid to regain the initiative after Republicans accused his administration of covering up details of the September 11 attack to safeguard his re-election hopes last year. The president said he was committed to improving security at US posts abroad as recommended by a State Department review board set up to probe the attack on the US mission in the eastern Libyan...

SIERRA VISTA — Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has ordered the furlough of Defense Department civilians to begin in early July. Today, Hagel directed 11 furlough days for civil service employees which is half of what was initially anticipated.

How long ago is seems now.Bob Woodward complained in February about heavy handed administration treatment after Woodward reported that Obama was untruthful about who came up with the idea of the Sequester:http://www.youtube.com/embed/FdfHEdeCC0QThe reaction from the left media in particular was savagery, belittling Woodward, making is seem as if the words used by the White House “you will regret� were blown out of proportion by a self-aggrandizing Woodward: Wow, looks like Woodward is going the full David Mamet/Judy Miller combo.This is gonna be fun to watch— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 28, 2013 Kevin Drum at Mother Jones exclaimed, Seriously, WTF Is...

Defense Department civilians to go on unpaid leave for 11 days Photo 10:29am EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will announce on Tuesday that most of the Defense Department's 800,000 civilian employees will be placed on unpaid leave for 11 days, as the military scrambles to comply with budget cutting targets by the end of September. Hagel will announce the decision at a town hall meeting with Defense Department employees scheduled for 2:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT). The furlough is shorter than the earlier estimates of 14 days issued in March and 22 days in February, but...

With furloughs looming, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter this week paid tribute to the job done by the Pentagon's civilian work force while warning that there soon would be fewer of them doing it. In a series of appearances that fell during Public Service Recognition Week, Carter said the department had yet to come to a decision on how many furlough days to impose to meet the budget-cutting demands of the Congressional sequester process in the current fiscal year. Carter called the across-the-board sequester cuts "stupid," and said they would result in the loss of five to six percent of...

The 149 air traffic control towers that were slated to close this summer because of the federal sequestration will remain open until at least September, federal officials said Friday. The Federal Aviation Administration said legislation approved by Congress last month lets it transfer funds from other accounts to keep the towers open until the end of the fiscal year.

The Obama administration announced Thursday a plan to help uninsured Americans find coverage under the new health care law by offering $150 million to community health centers. Top health officials said these centers frequently serve people who stand to gain the most from the Affordable Care Act, which is seeking to insure millions more Americans through government subsidies and an expansion of the Medicaid program.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., May 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army has given the first development contracts for renewable energy technologies under a $7 billion initiative. Five companies were awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity awards in geothermal technologies. The U.S. companies are: Constellation NewEnergy Inc., ECC Renewables LLC, Enel Green Power North America Inc., LTC Federal LLC and Siemens Government Technologies Inc. The multiple award task orders were issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, Ala., working with the Army Energy Initiatives Task Force. "Announcement of awards for the remaining technologies -- solar, wind and biomass -- are anticipated...

We have had a tax increase implemented. Now, with the additional revenues (taxes) added onto what we were previously taking in each year ($2.3-2.4 trillion dollars), we will still be able to make the interest payment (about $425 billion annally or $35 billion per month) on the federal debt outstanding... And thus we cannot default. After that, we use the remaining tax dollars to pay for Social Security, then Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment benefits, food stamps and a very large portion of our military budget. So... why do we need to borrow another $1 trillion plus in May?

Defense Department leaders spent months warning Congress that military readiness would begin to erode if sequestration went into effect on March 1. The Navy and Marine Corps are telling lawmakers that it's now happening and that things will only get worse from here. Across government, agencies say the impact of sequestration will be somewhat insidious. But in the case of DoD's two sea services, they're already feeling it, officials told the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness. "Due to reduced training and maintenance, almost all of our non-deployed ships and aviation squadrons are soon going to be less than fully...

Two months after the sequester slashed spending across the federal government, the latest jobs report shows the economy is still adding jobs and unemployment is going down. When asked aboard Air Force One Friday if that indicates the economy can withstand the cuts or if it is too soon to tell, White House press secretary Jay Carney maintained the cuts are harming the economy, despite the jobs numbers. "You know, what we know as a general principle going forward, is that every time we get data, no matter what it says, we will know that it would have been better...

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recently warned that sequestration would cause “suspension of important activities, curtailed training, and could result in furloughs of civilian personnel” but the spending cuts haven’t killed the green fuels program, as the Pentagon has continued purchasing renewable fuel at $59 per gallon. “In March, Gevo entered into a contract with the Defense Logistics Agency to supply the U.S. Army with 3,650 gallons of renewable jet fuel to be delivered by the second quarter of 2013,” Gevo announced this week in its first quarter financial report. “This initial order may be increased by 12,500 gallons. All shipments...

Bracing for “significant impacts” to funding for public outreach programs next year, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory decided to cancel its hugely popular open house in June. The cost savings? Roughly $400,000 for the two-day event. The figure is a comparatively slim sum for an agency that deals with budgets into the billions, but comes as NASA faces pressure to cut costs where it can amid the across-the-board federal spending reductions known as sequestration. It was that downward pressure that JPL cited when it announced last week that the open house scheduled for June 8 and 9 would be canceled to...

Once again, the Pentagon wants to scrap a weapon – in this case, the Abrams tank – that Congress has an interest in preserving. But with 'sequester' cuts, the tradeoff will be civilian furloughs. Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno testifies on Capitol Hill on April 23. The Army’s hulking Abrams tank, built to dominate the enemy in combat, is proving to be equally hard to beat in a budget battle, because of a bipartisan push to spend an extra $436 million on tanks, which the Pentagon does not want. Even as the Pentagon struggles to make some tough, congressionally...

We recently learned that the Blue Angels, the USAF Thunderbirds, the Golden Knights and all the Military Demo Teams have cancelled their entire Airshow season due to the Sequester. The Military will not take part in Airshows in any way – not static displays, not flying, nothing. This information has sent the Airshow Industry back to their drawing boards to see how they can move on from here. The Military Demonstration Teams are an enormous draw for these events. Military Teams can increase attendance by up to 30% while bringing many attendees from long distances which increase tourism for their...

Dozens of air shows that draw tens of thousands of people and generate millions of dollars for local economies have been cancelled this year after the military grounded its jet and demonstration teams because of automatic federal budget cuts. For years, the biggest draws at air shows have been the military's two elite jet teams, the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels and the U.S. Air Force's Thunderbirds, and their intricate stunts. The armed services also have provided F-16, F-18 and F-22 fighter jets and the U.S. Army Parachute Team, known as the Golden Knights. All the teams were grounded as of...

In his weekly address, Pres. Obama threatened Americans with more sequester “pain” if they don’t convince Congress to pass his budget. First, Obama exploited the sequester’s effect on children, the elderly, and airline travelers … And, there’s more pain on the horizon, Obama warned: “These cuts are scheduled to keep falling across other parts of the government that provide vital services for the American people.” …

Hestilow encouraged readers to “copy and properly amend this letter to send to your own senators and members of the U.S. House.” The following is his letter in its entirety. The Honorable Senator John Cornyn, State of Texas United States Senate 517 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Re: Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and that agencies preparation for war against citizens of the United States of America. Dear Senator Cornyn, It is with gravest concern that I write to you today concerning the recent appropriation of weapons by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that can only be...

Add Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to the growing list of senior administration officials returning some of their pay as employees face furloughs. Napolitano will donate five percent of her salary to foundations that benefit department personnel, a spokesperson told POLITICO. The State Department made a similar announcement about Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday and Attorney General Eric Holder will give back

That’s the simple reality of Friday’s vote to ease the pain for the Federal Aviation Administration. By assenting to it, Democrats have agreed to sequestration for the foreseeable future. In effect, what Democrats said Friday was that in any case where the political pain caused by sequestration becomes unbearable, they will agree to cancel that particular piece of the bill while leaving the rest of the law untouched. The result is that sequestration is no longer particularly politically threatening, but it’s even more unbalanced: Cuts to programs used by the politically powerful will be addressed, but cuts to programs that...

SEOUL — The Army’s chief of staff has warned Congress that steep military budget cuts and canceled training exercises are hurting the Army’s readiness, including the ability to respond to a potential conflict on the tense Korean peninsula. While troops in South Korea are “obviously at a high state of readiness,” Gen. Ray Odierno told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that sequestration has led to a reduction in training for 80 percent of the Army. Among the cuts: 37,000 flying hours, impending furloughs for civilian workers, and six brigade maneuver combat training center rotations. The cancellation of...

This chart is brought to us courtesy of Guy Benson/Freedom Works, see Bensons piece on this here.

It could have been a powerful tool. Obama blew it and blew it big. The real answer was simple. The idea of the sequester came from the White House: "In 2011, President Obama proposed the devastating sequestration cuts and stood by them. Now the Democrats continue saying Washington doesn’t have a spending problem, showing just out of touch the Democrats are with the American people. House Republicans have passed two bills that provide common-sense solutions that would reduce spending and preserve and strengthen our safety net for future generations. Instead of admitting we have a problem, Obama and the Democrats...

On a slow news day, this qualifies as breaking news. Democrats and Republicans have come together in rare bipartisan fashion to slap down the FAA’s sequester antics by increasing the spending flexibility of the agency to deal with a 4% reduction of a budget that’s gone up almost 10% over the last six years: In rare bipartisan accord, normally quarrelsome U.S. lawmakers passed a measure designed to end budget-related air traffic controller furloughs blamed for widespread flight delays.The House of Representatives approved the legislation, capping a major congressional initiative as delays snarled traffic at airports. The House vote comes a...

MILFORD — Milford Beach will remain open this summer after all, after a campaign waged by community activists, business owners, and elected officials to stop the closure set off by across-the-board spending cuts known as the federal sequester. John Donahue, superintendent of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area, said he had to close Milford Beach to trim his budget. This ruffled many feathers in Pike County, as Milford Beach is a big draw for both residents and visitors alike during the summer. The closing would cost businesses in Milford and the surrounding area a lot of money in an...

It took them the better part of 4 years, butt I guess the Congress that passed the bill finally got around to reading it. When they did, they didn’t like what they passed. At least not for themselves. So, instead of repealing it for everyone, they are quietly looking into excepting themselves and their staffers from some of the onerous aspects of the “train wreck” they caused. Good luck with that - now that the cat’s out of the bag. It’s like I always say, “Buyer’s Remorse” is the most embarrassing, uh,  embarrassment. I don’t know why, butt that reminded...

WASHINGTON – Legislation to end furloughs of air traffic controllers and delays for millions of travelers is headed to a House vote after a dark-of-night vote in the Senate that took place after most lawmakers had left the Capitol for a weeklong vacation. The bill passed late Thursday without even a roll call vote, and House officials indicated it likely would be brought up for quick approval there. Under the legislation, the Federal Aviation Administration would gain authority to transfer up to $253 million from accounts that are flush into other programs, to "prevent reduced operations and staffing" through the...

<p>WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate late on Thursday approved legislation to provide enough funding for federal air traffic controllers through Sept. 30 to end furloughs that have brought widespread airline delays. Several Senate aides said an agreement had been reached on a bill giving the Department of Transportation new flexibility to use unspent funds to cover the costs of air traffic controllers and other essential employees at the Federal Aviation Administration.</p>

The lawyers defending Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are dealing with federal budget cuts that will force them to take three unpaid weeks off even as they prepare to defend one of the most complicated criminal cases in the nation.

USBC News Wire- After a failure to move forward on meaningful budget planning earlier this year, budget cuts known as the "sequester" were put in place. The Obama White house cuts some agencies important to safety but continues funds to other agencies important to its own political policies. While the White House has officially described these cuts as harmful, Obama's administration has missed the Federally mandated deadline to submit a new federal budget to Congress four out of his five years as president. This year, the mandated budget was two months late. Many have cited this lack of leadership as...

The uncomfortable effects of government actions are being felt everywhere. Obamacare concerns are, anecdotally, delaying hiring, causing firms to change benefits for the people, and increasing taxes on the great majority. On the other hand, in the context of the "sequester", which is merely a slowdown in the breakneck rate of government spending, anyone who has traveled by plane in the last month knows the full court press efforts under way to ensure the American public knows just how 'devastating' the sequester cuts are - with delays rising exponentially with every dollar removed from the FAA budget. But there...

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday backed a plan that would temporarily eliminate spending cuts disrupting U.S. air travel, while lawmakers in Washington scrambled to avoid blame as the impact of the reductions began being felt across the country.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday equated the Tea Party to a non-violent “anarchist” group because, in his mind, Tea Partiers don’t believe in any form of government. He was speaking about the sequester and other financial issues on the Senate floor. “We have a situation where this country has been driven by the Tea Party for the last number of years,” Reid said. “When I was in school, I studied government and I learned about the anarchists. Now, they were different than the Tea Party because they were violent. But they were anarchists because they did not...

The White House on Wednesday backed a proposal to temporarily eliminate spending cuts disrupting U.S. air travel, while politicians in Washington scrambled to avoid blame as the effects of the cuts started to be felt around the country. White House spokesman Carney on Wednesday blamed Republicans for underestimating the negative impact of the spending reductions. "Republicans in Congress made a political tactical decision to embrace the sequester," he said. Cuts proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan would bite even more deeply than those under the sequester, he added. "We share the frustration and we warned about these very...

Army could lose 100,000 soldiers due to sequestration. Of all the military services facing budget pressure this year, the Army is in the direst of straits. The budget Congress finally passed a month ago will help matters, but the service says it's still more than $15 billion short of funds in fiscal 2013. Army senior leaders told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday that the elimination of a continuing resolution and the passage of a formal budget only fixed about a third of the funding problem they face this year. The sequestration cuts that Congress left in place will force...

Since the sequester was a cut in the increase, not a cut in the baseline spending, why is the FAA cutting $600 million dollars and blaming the furloughs on the sequester? Did I miss something? BTW, didn't Bob Woodward say that the sequester was Lew's idea and was jumped on by Obama?

USGS to Discontinue Streamgages Due to Sequestration: The U.S.Geological Survey (USGS) will discontinue operation of up to 375 streamgages nationwide due to budget cuts as a result of sequestration. Additional streamgages may be affected if partners reduce their funding to support USGS streamgages. The USGS is working to identify which streamgages will be impacted and will post this information as it becomes available. Streamgages are used nationwide to predict and address drought and flood conditions by monitoring water availability. The USGS and over 850 Federal, State, and local agencies cooperatively fund the USGS streamgaging network, which consists of over 8,000...

It was a tough start to the week for many air travelers as federal budget cuts led to cascading delays along the East Coast Monday morning. Some flights out of New York and Washington were delayed by more than two hours as the Federal Aviation Administration kept planes on the ground. The federal agency has said furloughs of air traffic controllers could lead to delays if there weren't enough people to monitor busy air corridors. *** Government budget cuts that kicked in last month are forcing the FAA and other agencies to cut their spending. FAA officials have said they...

Despite the organization being linked to Al-Qaeda and after having several pictures surface online of fighters grilling a decapitated human head, the United States pledged to give Syrian opposition forces $123 million in new defense aid – doubling the aid previously pledged by the Obama Administration. The announcement was made early Sunday morning by Secretary of State, John Kerry, who is meeting in the Turkish capital with opposition leaders. -snip Dave Frederick, a defense analyst is baffled by the administration’s behavior. “This is a true embarrassment for our country and something the Obama Administration should be very ashamed of. In...

The headlines about government spending and the sequester have faded into the background. But for Virginia, they remain on people’s minds. After all, Virginia leads all states in terms of percentage of GDP from government at 13.9%. So, yes Virginia, sequestration is a potentially important issue. And Arlington, the home of million dollar bus stops, is the big winner in terms of defense spending in Northern Virginia. But with the Federal government spending $30,000 for each household in America (while taking in $20,000 from each household), growing entitlement spending will likely evolve into less spending on everything else along with...

President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned speech Thursday at the memorial service for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. But that was to be expected. We all know Obama can give a stem-winder. What wasn’t expected was that this would be by far the toughest week of the Obama presidency—the first time I can remember the president being dealt an unequivocal policy defeat. Only the “shellacking” of the 2010 midterm comes close, and even there a case can be made that achieving the decades-old progressive dream of universal health care was worth losing the House of Representatives and a filibuster-proof...

WASHINGTON — The Marine helicopter squadron responsible for flying President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, cabinet members and other VIPs has a new aircraft: An MV-22 Osprey. HMX-1’s tilt-rotor aircraft is painted green and will be used in a support role, transporting the president’s staff and the media, Marine spokesman Capt. Richard Ulsh confirmed. Helicopters that transport the president are typically painted white on top and referred to as “white tops.” “The Osprey is a staple within our fleet. It has proven itself in the most difficult environments as a capable and reliable asset,” Ulsh said, noting that including...