Category: Sequestration

OMB tells Congress sequestration cuts aren’t needed in 2014

OMB tells Congress sequestration cuts aren’t needed in 2014

 Thursday – 2/13/2014, 12:36pm EST

Agencies will not face any budget cuts from sequestration this year.

The Office of Management and Budget told Congress in a Feb. 7 report that it estimates the enacted fiscal 2014 discretionary appropriations are within the spending limits under the Budget Control Act.

The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 requires OMB to issue a report to Congress 15 days after appropriations bills are signed into law detailing any spending limits that are more than the allowed caps and would trigger across-the-board cuts. Continue reading “OMB tells Congress sequestration cuts aren’t needed in 2014”

House GOP Prepares Fallback Plan to Avoid January Shutdown

House GOP Prepares Fallback Plan to Avoid January Shutdown

As the budget conference committee continues to work toward an agreement that would set spending levels for the remainder of this fiscal year and fiscal 2015, House Republicans are contemplating a fallback plan: a short-term continuing resolution that would fund the government through April 15 and buy budget negotiators more time to strike a long-term deal.

According to multiple lawmakers familiar with the situation, budget negotiators in both parties are hopeful that the foundation for a long-term deal could be laid in December. But the details almost certainly won’t be solidified before Dec. 13, the deadline for the conference committee to report an agreement—and the day lawmakers leave town for the holiday recess.

At the same time, the current government-funding bill expires Jan. 15, and House members don’t return to Washington until Jan. 7.

Continue reading “House GOP Prepares Fallback Plan to Avoid January Shutdown”

Expect Sequestration to Hit Much Harder in 2014, Report Says

Expect Sequestration to Hit Much Harder in 2014, Report Says

USDA was able to avoid furloughing meat inspectors in 2013.
USDA was able to avoid furloughing meat inspectors in 2013. Michael A. Mariant/AP file photo

Less severe cuts, deferred costs and temporary solutions mitigated sequestration’s effect in its inaugural year, but will not help lessen the impact in 2014, according to a new report.

The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, said the tactics federal agencies used to reduce furloughs in fiscal 2013 are, in many cases, no longer available. In fact, they will largely accentuate the severity of the cuts this time around.

For example, Congress allowed the Federal Aviation Administration to move funds from an account meant to provide maintenance to airports nationwide to avoid furloughs of air traffic controllers that would have delayed flights. Similar budgetary “gimmicks” were employed at the Agriculture Department to stave off furloughs of meat inspectors and by the Justice Department, which has already announced plans of 10 furlough days for FBI agents in 2014.

Continue reading “Expect Sequestration to Hit Much Harder in 2014, Report Says”

EEOC Avoids Second Round of Furloughs

EEOC Avoids Second Round of Furloughs

Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Jacqueline Berrien
Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Jacqueline Berrien Charles Dharapak/AP File Photo

Employees at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will not face a second round of furlough days this fiscal year, the agency announced on Thursday.

EEOC has already required workers to take five days of unpaid leave due to budget cuts under sequestration; its chief financial officer concluded an additional three days would not be necessary, Chairwoman Jacqueline Berrien said in a July 11 all-staff memorandum. Continue reading “EEOC Avoids Second Round of Furloughs”

Federal workers: How are you dealing with the sequester?

Federal workers: How are you dealing with the sequester?

By Josh Hicks and Marcia Davis, Published: July 9, 2013 at 6:00 am

eye-opener-logo6The federal government is more than halfway through its fiscal 2013 sequester, and the first round of automatic cuts, scheduled to last seven months, have reached a high-point.

Agencies have reduced rental assistance for thousands of rural, low-income residents, emergency unemployment benefits have been trimmed, and hundreds of thousands of federal workers are being furloughed — although some of the projected impacts haven’t materialized. Continue reading “Federal workers: How are you dealing with the sequester?”

%d bloggers like this: