OMB Details Sequestration Plan; DHS Potentially Hit with $4B in Cuts

[RoadVirus]

Effected: immigration enforcement, border security and others. All because the Dumbos didn't want to cut entitlement spending (but wanted more more more taxes).

The US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a report Friday providing an overview of the Obama administration's plans for sequestration, which is set to cut the federal budget across the board beginning Jan. 1, 2013, unless Congress can develop an alternate plan.

--SNIP--

Most of DHS spending falls under non-defense accounts based on how the Budget Control Act defines those terms. Generally speaking, the biggest DHS agencies would take the biggest hits under the sequestration plan with aviation security, immigration enforcement, border security and disaster relief accounts losing roughly half a billion each or more.

--SNIP--

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement would see a cut of $477 million in immigration enforcement efforts. Its automation modernization program would lose $1 million

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) would lose roughly $955 million overall, accounting for nearly a quarter of DHS sequestered funds. Border security spending alone would receive a cut of $823 million. Air and marine interdiction efforts would lose $41 million; border security fencing, infrastructure and technology, $33 million.

Read more: Homeland Security Today: OMB Details Sequestration Plan; DHS Potentially Hit with $4B in Cuts

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - dem politicians never have to pay the piper...

Whatever budget battle's outcome, lawmakers themselves unaffected
February 25, 2013 WASHINGTON — Sequestration’s across-the-board assault on hundreds of thousands of government workers is set to hit Friday, but some will be spared, including active-duty troops and Defense Department civilians working in combat zones.

Add to that short list of protected workers: congressional lawmakers, who could put a stop to it all. “The whole thing is dripping with irony and hypocrisy,” especially if you consider that they’re the ones who created this problem in the first place — and now seem resigned to letting it happen, said David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, a nonpartisan government watchdog group in Alexandria, Va. On one side, nearly 800,000 civilian defense employees are bracing for furloughs that would force them to stay home one day each week beginning in April, suffering a 20 percent bite out of their paychecks — as well as countless other civilian workers in a broad swathe of government agencies, including Border Patrol agents, emergency workers, first responders and air traffic and security agents, who face reduced workdays and pay.

On the other side, “you have members of Congress, with a $174,000 base salary, which is $285,000 when you take into account their health care and pensions,” who are insulated from the sequester, he said. “They are very well paid for what they do — and they haven’t been doing a lot. “They’ve been punting everything six months and a year down the road, and then they say, ‘How do we get out of this mess?’ Well, you created that mess,” he said. And the blame never seems to end. “Guess what?,” Williams said. “Everybody’s at fault.” Many Americans blame Congress for creating the “imaginary” fiscal crisis and for a pattern of partisan rigidity that has driven the nation to the brink of an economic crisis. A recent Gallup poll found that the approval rating for Congress is at 15 percent, while President Barack Obama’s is at 51 percent, one of his highest ratings in more than three years.

Pete Sepp, executive vice president of the National Taxpayers Union in Alexandria, Va., called it “almost double hypocritical.” Lawmakers “won’t face up to the necessary, major financial consequences” of out-of-control government spending or “give the necessary legislative guidance on where the budget priorities could be made,” Sepp said. However, they still get their payday while leaving the nation in political deadlock. Both taxpayer watchdog groups say that sequester-level spending reductions in government are achievable — and necessary to solve the nation’s debt problem. “But the sequester itself is not the ideal way to do that,” Sepp said of the “meat-ax” approach to government spending reductions. “Congress should have a comprehensive evaluation of strategy and its funding priorities.”

A statement by the American Federation of Governmental Employees, the largest federal employee union — which represents 670,000 workers, including many DOD employees — also took note of the stark contrast between Congress and those workers who would bear sequestration’s brunt. “An employee in the middle of the pay scale, earning about $50,000 a year, takes home between $500 and $600 a week after subtracting health insurance, retirement and taxes,” it notes. “Taking away one day’s pay every week could mean the difference between covering the mortgage and putting food on the table. “These employees aren’t some fat cat bureaucrats in a plush Washington office,” it adds. “They are the firefighters who safeguard our bases, the health care professionals who treat injured soldiers in military hospitals, the mechanics who repair our tanks and planes, the logistics personnel who ensure supplies make it to our troops, the acquisition experts who prevent big defense contractors from ripping off taxpayers.”

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House report says 'big-ticket' conferences cost taxpayers $340M
February 28, 2013 : The infamous Las Vegas bash held by the obscure General Services Administration wasn't that unusual after all.

The lavish 2010 conference, which cost over $800,000, had lawmakers fuming last year. But a new congressional report shows taxpayers picked up the tab for at least 894 conferences in 2012 -- to the tune of $340 million. Those figures only cover "big-ticket" conferences -- or those that cost $100,000 or more -- so the total figure is likely higher.

The numbers, released in conjunction with a hearing Wednesday on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, come as the federal government braces for automatic spending cuts set to hit Friday. Some lawmakers have claimed that Washington could offset the impact by trimming the waste -- be it low-priority hires, needless government studies, or conferences. The latest numbers showed some agencies are far more fond of their annual and special-occasion conventions than others.

Some agencies held only a few big-ticket conferences. The Labor Department held just four, keeping the total bill under $1 million. Even the GSA -- which has cut back on its conference spending in light of the Las Vegas scandal -- held only three. But the Defense Department, which is also the biggest department in Washington, held nearly 300 conferences at a cost of $89 million. The Department of Veterans Affairs held 127 at a cost of $72.7 million; the Justice Department held 107 at a cost of $58.7 million; and the Department of Health and Human Services held 140, at a cost of $56.1 million.

The hearing and report follow a slew of revelations on pricey conferences. While the VA did not report its numbers to the committee, the agency came under fire last year for two conferences allegedly costing more than $6 million the summer before. Included on the list of expenses was $52,000 spent to produce a video parody of the movie "Patton." The Department of Veterans Affairs claimed to be cracking down on its conference policy in light of the allegations, last year ordering an outside review of training policies and conferences.

Read more: House report says 'big-ticket' conferences cost taxpayers $340M | Fox News

 

[depotoo]

why of course they and their own massive budgets won't feel a thing as they won't be touched.