Headline Article

THE PAIN: First of Millions of Sequester Furlough Notices Handed Out to Federal Employees

March 01,2013

| 476 Views | Politics

The Daily Banter Headline Grab from Huff Post:

Federal employees began receiving furlough notices on Friday, as the deep budget cuts known as sequestration went into effect.

More than 1 million federal employees face the possibility of unpaid time off due to the across-the-board spending cuts. While some notices are going out on Friday, the furloughs will not actually take effect until April, as the government is required to give employees 30 days’ notice.

The Democratic staff of the House Oversight Committee released a furlough notice sent to an assistant U.S. attorney on Friday, which read, “This memorandum notifies you that the Department of Justice (DOJ) proposes to furlough you no earlier than 30 days from receipt of this notice.”

“We recognize the difficult personal financial implications of any furlough, no matter how limited its length. We will make every effort to keep you informed as additional information regarding agency funding becomes available,” the letter added.

The sequester contained in the Budget Control Act of 2011 was originally intended to be so painful — $85 billion in across-the-board cuts to both domestic and defense spending — that Congress and the White House would work together to come up with an alternative plan to reduce the deficit. If they didn’t, the cuts would kick in, as they will on Friday.

Tags: Debt, Deficit, Economy, Mitch McConnell, Republican Party, Sequester, Sequestration

http://www.facebook.com/sojournimages Scott Di Vincenzo

Sequester Pelosi & Obama’s FREE health care.
joseph2004

This sequester is stupid. But I have to believe that, among “progressives,” this sequester, which is hitting the defense department hard, is secretly satisfying. After all, the “Military-Industrial Complex” has been (along with big bad US AUTO) the Left’s most-loved-to-hate target of the last 40 years. That the Defense Dept is one of the heavy losers in the sequester is proof of Obama’s hand in the whole thing. Playing to the base.

This is your chance, Progressives, to stick it to the man!

All that screaming about US auto companies destroying the environment and the Pentagon squandering $billions that could have been used for other things like “infrastructure” and the poor — that’s no longer the focus. Suddenly it’s all about jobs and in sequester terms, especially government jobs – UNION jobs.

The Progressives’ fight to make the government into a guiding light as gone silly.
- Lazarus Durden
  
  Dude you seriously need to the blinders off. The GOP killed Obama’s Jobs Act which had all sorts of money for infrastructure projects. Progressives, whoever you mean with your hasty generalization, didn’t kill any of this. It’s the GOP every time, all day long. Keep on trollin’ though. You’re doin’ great!
  - joseph2004
    
    Yes, and you recall that the impass came when Republicans demanded some seriousness in cutting spending or keeping things “revenue neutral,” which in their case meant, sure, create a new “jobs” (shovel ready?) program, but to fund it you must take from somewhere else.
    Obama has never been willing to do that, on anything. There’s always some excuse for NOT cutting spending, as if it would be so impossible.
    So it’s hard to say with a straight face that the Republicans are the obstructionists. At this point in time, only the Republicans are talking fiscal responsibility. Obama’s “balanced approach” is a good sound bite, but it’s smoke and mirrors. He has no intention of cutting spending. If he did, we’d have no problem. After all, we all know that the kinds of revenue he’d get from anything he’s proposed would go nowhere in denting the deficit of debt. A “balanced” approach includes cutting government spending.
    He want’s to build the Democratic base, and he knows that the best way to do that is to make sure there is no pain. The only way to guarantee no pain is to personally filibuster anything that causes pain, and right now that’s cutting Federal government spending. Somebody isn’t going to like it, no matter how necessary, and he’s not going to be the one to make the tough choices on this. No way.
    Obama’s jobs act was about as serious as his last proposal over the fiscal cliff. Remember that one? He included $50 billion in stimulus in his proposal, something he knew was a nonstarter for the Republicans. That is, he was throwing up a road block of his own. Besides, you’d think Ben Bernanke pumping 40$billion a month into the economy “forever” would be stilmuls enough.
    No, Obama is playing games, and it’s hurting this country.
    - Lazarus Durden
      
      No you’re a troll because you have no intention of engaging in an honest debate. You never have since I’ve been coming to this site.
      
      If you want to have an honest debate about the Sequester that’s fine, but just by looking at your post you do all the same things Wingnut trolls do.
      
      1) You post a shotgun effect of information, most of which is either false or has nothing to do with the conversation at hand.
      2) You misrepresent both sides of the argument and create a fallacy.
      3) When challenged on any of it you basically accuse the other side of being a zealot or ideologically blind. Basically you project.
      
      So yeah I know what you are. You’ve demonstrated it in the past on numerous occasions.
      
      And if you honestly don’t think a record number of filibusters on everything from lower court appointments to any and all bills going through Congress, a worse legislative record in the House then the famous Do-Nothing Congress, and a completely inflexible attitude regarding every piece of legislation in terms of compromise isn’t obstructionist then we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
      
      Dude you’re basically just another Tea Partier. It’s all the President’s fault, and the GOP can do no wrong. That’s always been your position and it always will be.
      
      If you wanna engage in an honest debate that’s fine. I’ll have that. But you don’t so again no point. I’m merely calling you out on your trolling.
http://www.facebook.com/john.m.hall1 John Michael Hall

How I wish we could furlough Congress indefinitely. Obama? Furloughed in 2016.
- joseph2004
  
  Has he really tried to work with the Republicans? Every indication is that he has in fact not tried to. He’s out “campaigning” and smearing, but not talking.. It’s pretty obvious.
  - Lazarus Durden
    
    Yup that’s it Joseph. Because you know closing loopholes in conjunction with half a trillion dollars in deficit reduction already isn’t working with the GOP. No you’re right slashing everything but the Defense Budget and raising no revenue is a balanced plan. Way to keep selling that GOP meme.

Headline Article

THE PAIN: First of Millions of Sequester Furlough Notices Handed Out to Federal Employees

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