Posts Tagged ‘deficit reduction’

Teachers at DOD schools anticipate a shortened school year or four-day work weeks if sequestration is triggered and the DOD Education Activity is forced to furlough teachers and other school employees. So far, the DOD Education Activity has not said how it would cope with the fiscal crisis the department is facing, reported Stars and Stripes. Last month, officials said civilian employees would need to take up to 22 days of unpaid furlough between April and the end of the fiscal year if lawmakers fail to avert the $40-plus billion in defense cuts scheduled to go into effect Friday. One response under consideration is cutting 10 to 12 days from the current school year and additional days from the school year beginning next fall, according to the story. About 84,000 children are enrolled in DOD schools.

The Pentagon’s top officials have warned over the past year that if DOD is forced to identify up to $500 billion in further spending reductions through fiscal 2021, they would need to revisit the newly developed defense strategy guiding the military’s priorities. If sequestration hits on Friday, though, as it is widely expected to, the department will be fully occupied trying to find ways to accommodate about $46 billion in automatic cuts over the next seven months …

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) plans to ask Congress to allow DOD to fund its programs at the levels called for in the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill when it puts together the continuing resolution needed to fund the government after March 27. The authority to reprogram funds would allow the Pentagon to make up the tremendous shortfall in its operations and maintenance accounts that is forcing the services to curtail training and equipment maintenance planned for the remainder of FY 2013 …

The White House released new documents over the weekend depicting the state-by-state impacts of defense and domestic cuts stemming from sequestration in its latest move to pressure Republican leaders to accept some tax increases as part of a deal to avert across-the-board spending reductions scheduled to be carried out starting on Friday. Based on temporary furloughs of DOD civilian workers, Virginia would be hurt the most with 90,000 employees expected to lose up to 22 days of work over the last seven months of fiscal 2013 …

The Senate is moving toward separate votes Thursday on competing plans to replace, or at least mitigate, $85 billion in automatic spending reductions set to take effect Friday. Neither is likely to gain the required 60 votes for passage, though, leaving the March 27 deadline for extending fiscal 2013 funding for the federal government as the real milestone for Congress to address the sequester …

Communities, small businesses, contractors and military families are among those who will be affected by spending cuts scheduled to go into effect at the end of the week, according to a panel of experts and officials who briefed congressional staff Monday. The briefing was organized by the Association of Defense Communities and co-hosted by Reps. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) and Sam Farr (D-Calif.), who are re-forming the Defense Communities Caucus for the current Congress …

The House measure to fund the federal government beyond March 27 most likely will include language allowing the Navy to resume much of the ship repair work it recently has cancelled due the fiscal uncertainty stemming from sequestration and the likelihood the service is funded by a continuing resolution for the remainder of fiscal 2013, Rep. Randy Forbes said Monday. Forbes said he was confident “anomalies” in the stopgap measure would allow Navy officials to shift existing funds into accounts that would cover the maintenance work …

Full-time members of the Army and Air National Guard who work as military technicians are not exempt from sequestration and could be placed on unpaid furloughs along with DOD’s 800,000 civilian workers, Guard officials said last week. More than half of the National Guard’s full-time members may be furloughed, resulting in maintenance backlogs for all states and curtailment of critical training, especially aviation crew training …

While President Obama continues his campaign to pressure Republican leaders to accept some tax increases to offset the sequester, the Senate this week will take up competing plans to deal with the $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts scheduled to go into effect Friday. Under the plan introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), defense spending would be reduced by $27.5 billion over a seven-year period starting in fiscal 2015, rather than by $43 billion this year, as it would if sequestration goes forward …

As the likelihood that the Pentagon will be forced to absorb deep spending cuts edges closer, the anxiety level of the 4,200 employees at Letterkenny Army Depot, located 50 miles southwest of Harrisburg, Pa., has ramped up. The depot may have to cope with $442 million in cuts this year, jeopardizing the jobs of the civilian contractors employed there and likely resulting in furloughs for its 1,743 full-time civilian workers …