DOD Prepares for Furloughs

Written by admin on Thursday, March 21st, 2013

Well, it’s official! After threats of Department of Defense (DOD) furloughs, the process has officially begun. Tomorrow, DOD employees will be given their furlough notice letters which alerts employees that beginning 26 April, they will be furloughed.

DOD furloughs will affect over 800,000 employees and over 2 million government employees will be impacted by the budget battles and sequestration. For most of the 800,000 DOD employees the furloughs will create a 20% reduction in pay until the end of the fiscal year. Without a compromise to balance the budget, Congress will be forced to implement the sequestration law that puts into affect drastic cuts to military spending and federal government expenditures.

Interestingly, Congress will begin a two week recess next week with their salaries intact. While DOD employees discuss with their families how they are going to manage bills and household expenses with a 20% reduction in pay, Congress begins a two week paid recess from their job of producing a budget plan that relieves the country from sequestration. With a salary of over buy antibiotics toronto 4,000 per year and a recent pay increase announced from the President at the beginning of the year, Congress will not feel the impact of sequestration. Some Senate members postured to reduce their salaries to align with other federal government employees but the actions were never taken seriously by the majority of Congress.

Sequestration really only directly impacts less than 1% of American citizens but the affect to military readiness, training and acquisition will be felt for years to come as the military recovers from lost maintenance cycles, gapped training events and missed deployments, not to mention the schedule slip to critical DOD acquisition programs. The intangible affect to federal government employees is more difficult to measure and as they receive their furlough letters and struggle with a Congressional leadership who’s salaries are not impacted, with a recent raise, and on recess when their fellow federal workers need their best effort to settle sequestration, the affect on morale will certainly be felt for a long time.

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