Free Republic

It took them the better part of 4 years, butt I guess the Congress that passed the bill finally got around to reading it. When they did, they didn’t like what they passed. At least not for themselves. So, instead of repealing it for everyone, they are quietly looking into excepting themselves and their staffers from some of the onerous aspects of the “train wreck” they caused. Good luck with that - now that the cat’s out of the bag. It’s like I always say, “Buyer’s Remorse” is the most embarrassing, uh,  embarrassment. I don’t know why, butt that reminded...

WASHINGTON – Legislation to end furloughs of air traffic controllers and delays for millions of travelers is headed to a House vote after a dark-of-night vote in the Senate that took place after most lawmakers had left the Capitol for a weeklong vacation. The bill passed late Thursday without even a roll call vote, and House officials indicated it likely would be brought up for quick approval there. Under the legislation, the Federal Aviation Administration would gain authority to transfer up to $253 million from accounts that are flush into other programs, to "prevent reduced operations and staffing" through the...

<p>WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate late on Thursday approved legislation to provide enough funding for federal air traffic controllers through Sept. 30 to end furloughs that have brought widespread airline delays. Several Senate aides said an agreement had been reached on a bill giving the Department of Transportation new flexibility to use unspent funds to cover the costs of air traffic controllers and other essential employees at the Federal Aviation Administration.</p>

The lawyers defending Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are dealing with federal budget cuts that will force them to take three unpaid weeks off even as they prepare to defend one of the most complicated criminal cases in the nation.

USBC News Wire- After a failure to move forward on meaningful budget planning earlier this year, budget cuts known as the "sequester" were put in place. The Obama White house cuts some agencies important to safety but continues funds to other agencies important to its own political policies. While the White House has officially described these cuts as harmful, Obama's administration has missed the Federally mandated deadline to submit a new federal budget to Congress four out of his five years as president. This year, the mandated budget was two months late. Many have cited this lack of leadership as...

The uncomfortable effects of government actions are being felt everywhere. Obamacare concerns are, anecdotally, delaying hiring, causing firms to change benefits for the people, and increasing taxes on the great majority. On the other hand, in the context of the "sequester", which is merely a slowdown in the breakneck rate of government spending, anyone who has traveled by plane in the last month knows the full court press efforts under way to ensure the American public knows just how 'devastating' the sequester cuts are - with delays rising exponentially with every dollar removed from the FAA budget. But there...

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday backed a plan that would temporarily eliminate spending cuts disrupting U.S. air travel, while lawmakers in Washington scrambled to avoid blame as the impact of the reductions began being felt across the country.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday equated the Tea Party to a non-violent “anarchist” group because, in his mind, Tea Partiers don’t believe in any form of government. He was speaking about the sequester and other financial issues on the Senate floor. “We have a situation where this country has been driven by the Tea Party for the last number of years,” Reid said. “When I was in school, I studied government and I learned about the anarchists. Now, they were different than the Tea Party because they were violent. But they were anarchists because they did not...

The White House on Wednesday backed a proposal to temporarily eliminate spending cuts disrupting U.S. air travel, while politicians in Washington scrambled to avoid blame as the effects of the cuts started to be felt around the country. White House spokesman Carney on Wednesday blamed Republicans for underestimating the negative impact of the spending reductions. "Republicans in Congress made a political tactical decision to embrace the sequester," he said. Cuts proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan would bite even more deeply than those under the sequester, he added. "We share the frustration and we warned about these very...

Army could lose 100,000 soldiers due to sequestration. Of all the military services facing budget pressure this year, the Army is in the direst of straits. The budget Congress finally passed a month ago will help matters, but the service says it's still more than $15 billion short of funds in fiscal 2013. Army senior leaders told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday that the elimination of a continuing resolution and the passage of a formal budget only fixed about a third of the funding problem they face this year. The sequestration cuts that Congress left in place will force...

Since the sequester was a cut in the increase, not a cut in the baseline spending, why is the FAA cutting $600 million dollars and blaming the furloughs on the sequester? Did I miss something? BTW, didn't Bob Woodward say that the sequester was Lew's idea and was jumped on by Obama?

USGS to Discontinue Streamgages Due to Sequestration: The U.S.Geological Survey (USGS) will discontinue operation of up to 375 streamgages nationwide due to budget cuts as a result of sequestration. Additional streamgages may be affected if partners reduce their funding to support USGS streamgages. The USGS is working to identify which streamgages will be impacted and will post this information as it becomes available. Streamgages are used nationwide to predict and address drought and flood conditions by monitoring water availability. The USGS and over 850 Federal, State, and local agencies cooperatively fund the USGS streamgaging network, which consists of over 8,000...

It was a tough start to the week for many air travelers as federal budget cuts led to cascading delays along the East Coast Monday morning. Some flights out of New York and Washington were delayed by more than two hours as the Federal Aviation Administration kept planes on the ground. The federal agency has said furloughs of air traffic controllers could lead to delays if there weren't enough people to monitor busy air corridors. *** Government budget cuts that kicked in last month are forcing the FAA and other agencies to cut their spending. FAA officials have said they...

Despite the organization being linked to Al-Qaeda and after having several pictures surface online of fighters grilling a decapitated human head, the United States pledged to give Syrian opposition forces $123 million in new defense aid – doubling the aid previously pledged by the Obama Administration. The announcement was made early Sunday morning by Secretary of State, John Kerry, who is meeting in the Turkish capital with opposition leaders. -snip Dave Frederick, a defense analyst is baffled by the administration’s behavior. “This is a true embarrassment for our country and something the Obama Administration should be very ashamed of. In...

The headlines about government spending and the sequester have faded into the background. But for Virginia, they remain on people’s minds. After all, Virginia leads all states in terms of percentage of GDP from government at 13.9%. So, yes Virginia, sequestration is a potentially important issue. And Arlington, the home of million dollar bus stops, is the big winner in terms of defense spending in Northern Virginia. But with the Federal government spending $30,000 for each household in America (while taking in $20,000 from each household), growing entitlement spending will likely evolve into less spending on everything else along with...

President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned speech Thursday at the memorial service for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. But that was to be expected. We all know Obama can give a stem-winder. What wasn’t expected was that this would be by far the toughest week of the Obama presidency—the first time I can remember the president being dealt an unequivocal policy defeat. Only the “shellacking” of the 2010 midterm comes close, and even there a case can be made that achieving the decades-old progressive dream of universal health care was worth losing the House of Representatives and a filibuster-proof...

WASHINGTON — The Marine helicopter squadron responsible for flying President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, cabinet members and other VIPs has a new aircraft: An MV-22 Osprey. HMX-1’s tilt-rotor aircraft is painted green and will be used in a support role, transporting the president’s staff and the media, Marine spokesman Capt. Richard Ulsh confirmed. Helicopters that transport the president are typically painted white on top and referred to as “white tops.” “The Osprey is a staple within our fleet. It has proven itself in the most difficult environments as a capable and reliable asset,” Ulsh said, noting that including...

The IRS will shut down entirely for five days this year in order to try to meet its slimmed-down budget under the sequesters, a labor union that represents Treasury Department employees said on Friday. The IRS will close its doors on May 24, June 14, July 5, July 22 and Aug. 30, and employees are being told there could be two other days as well. “On those days all public operations of the IRS will be shut down, leaving taxpayers without access to information and assistance from frontline workers,” the National Treasury Employees Union said.

Flight delays of up to 3-1/2 hours are expected at some busy U.S. airports this summer because of furloughs of air-traffic controllers, the top U.S. aviation regulator warned on Thursday. The estimate from the Federal Aviation Administration is the first to detail, in minutes and hours, the potential delays from the agency's decision to furlough 10 percent of its staff, starting Sunday, as it struggles to meet budget cuts required under so-called sequestration. Other groups, including the air-traffic controller's union, have warned of potentially long delays and reduced capacity to handle airplanes, which could force airlines to cut flights. But...

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) decided to politicize the bombings that took place at the Boston Marathon on Monday, saying that they were “proof” that some of the sequester cuts were “irrational.” We should have known that this would be forthcoming from a Democrat’s lips and so we are not shocked, but we are most assuredly sickened by Hoyer’s comments. Hoyer claimed that the bombings demonstrate “why having the ability to dress security concerns is important” and then tied that with cutting off sequestration.