Posted on 07/19/2013 3:48:50 AM PDT by SkyPilot
Furlough is here to stay for 2013, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said this week, ending the hopes of those who thought the Pentagon might yet cancel or lower the number of days of unpaid leave workers are scheduled to take through the end of the fiscal year.
"We're going to have the furlough... situation until the end of 2013. 2013 is over," Hagel told attendees at a town hall meeting at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla. "2014 begins Oct. 1. If sequestration continues, which as you all know is the law of the land, that probably we'd see that kick in Jan. 1 that $52 billion cut for the rest of 2014."
Hagel has been on a tour of military bases to spread the message of the harmful effects of sequestration, especially on the civilian workforce that's taking one-day-per-week furloughs through the end of the fiscal year. The Pentagon is being cut $37 billion this year; the furlough of civilian workers will save about $2 billion.
Since announcing the 11 days of furlough in May, Hagel has said officials would continue to examine options to see if that number could be lowered, much as it was when the original plan for 22 days of unpaid leave was cut in half. During the town hall meetings, Hagel did not indicate he thought sequestration would end soon.
"Do I think it's going to get better? As I said, I have to lead this institution not based on what I think, what I hope, what I believe, may be. I've got to prepare this institution and our people for the facts of life and the reality as it is and the law that is now in place," he said.
More than 650,000 Department of Defense workers are losing 20
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.al.com ...
The DoD is rapidly spending through money to preserve gopher nets and upgrade the cable TV at Gitmo, as well hurrying along to award contracts in the Billions so he can use all of his FY13 remaining funds. But he has refused each service chief's request to pay their own workforce.
We are punishing the people who contribute to this nation, taking 20% of their pay, but rewarding the entitlement takers in record Billions.
Didn’t fiscal 2013 end on June 30? So, yes, 2013 truly is over, in that sense.
This dork, Hagel, is the one who really needs to be furloughed.
A 20 percent pay cut for a senior Engineer is $250 each week (take home pay). No furloughs next year according to Hagel: Reductions in Force (RIFs) for FY14.
The fiscal year was moved to start in October, one of the times congress could not do their jobs. Seems like they still can not do their jobs.
It is overwhelming incompetence to use furloughs as a long term budgeting tool. It is also a total waste of human resources as well as actual available spending.
Well mister communist traitor... you pos republican turncoat... are you going to furlough yourself?????
LLS
A friend with the Department of Navy has been told that he will be off 20 weeks next year. They are lying here.
what is a 20% pay cut for the Commander in Chief?
obama tribe gonna be eating pbj’s instead of lobsta in Martha’s Vineyard?
Chuckie Hagel - A man of many hats
Secretary of Defense
Token Republican
Obama Butt Boy
I have a friend who is still on active duty and serving in Italy. She said they were told that due to the sequester they will not receive any packages until 30 August.
Yet obama can still go on vacation.
The 20% applies to gross pay. When deductions such as health insurance and life insurance,which are not cut, are dialed into the calculation, actual take home (net) pay is reduced by approximately 25%.
Although this administration has demonstrated its inompetence many times, the use of furloughs is a political tool for Obama to thumb his nose at the Republicans in congress.
Furloughs also play into the administration's plan to gut the military so that we will no longer be a threat to others.
Most don't really know the full impact next year. Definite hiring freeze and most likely a civilian RIF (reduction in forces). Last couple RIFs, they offered "incentives" for those who would leave/retire early, then tightened the standards to the point than nobody qualified for the incentives. Recent commander's call said that if we think 2013 is bad, wait for 2014-2015 because the bleeding will become a hemorrhage.
If they were to first eliminate all of the social engineering activities in the DoD, and focus on the warfighter, they could probably save more money than they are now.
Remember, the purpose of these furloughs is political, not fiscal. Obama ordered the cuts where they would hurt the most.
Yep... you are correct. His info came from those right above him and he is ranked pretty high himself.
LLS
The maximum allowed by law is 22 days in a Fiscal Year.
The only service that didn’t have money to pay their workers was the Army. But Hagel didn’t think it would be “fair” if only army people were furloughed.
Meanwhile, the rules implemented for the furlough are designed to cause the maximum damage and acheive the minimum results.
For example, you’ll never know if some of these workers are actually not needed, because it is prohibited for any other person to do their job, nor it it permissable for them to change their schedules to do jobs traditionally “scheduled” for their furlough day on other days, nor can they stagger furlough days with other people.
So if you had a worker who was only doing 2 days of work, you could not assign them 2 more days of work from two people being furloughed. Instead, the military will report that 2 days worth of work did not get done, and still pay the other guy to sit on his behind 2 days a week.
What they should have done is just fired 100,000 workers, and distributed their work. Then we’d know if we needed that many people, and if we did, we could hire them back.
I am passing on to you what his superiors have told him. Laws do not apply to obama or holder... obama will issue an illegal EO and it will be the law not the law that is codified.
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