Furlough Thread

[James48843]

the grifters cant go 2 months without a vacation. make that LAVISH vacation.

Not that this has anything to do with the furlough....but....

President Obama has taken far LESS vacation days than every other President in modern times, except for President Clinton.

How President Obama's vacation time stacks up - Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

And that's a fact.

 

[Viva_La_Migra]

What a shock. I came out in December to Cali from Texas. I guess you gotta pay for all the beauty mother nature provides out here?

But man, 2% more on my Social Security and Cali State Tax, forget the promotion, I took a pay cut. Did I mention 9 months till I bail and join the
retirees getting that government entitlement check each month? At least it'll boost my high three slightly.

Not to mention the cost of housing, fuel, sales tax, food, etc. The sunshine tax is more than just the state income tax.

 

[uscfanhawaii]

This one is going around the offices this morning.

Crank it up and show your cube neighbor...

This Frank Delima song came out last year during the Furlough Fridays that were implemented in Hawaii for the Teachers when the state didn't have enough money to pay them (supposedly). That is why all the references to schools and the start and finish with the school bell sounding. And, yeah, that furlough, like this one, was 'lolo' (stupid)!! :blink:

 

[Boghie]

It can't happen here..............

 

[nnuut]

We are so broke, the states can't even pay their own teachers as they have in the past, amazing.

 

[Frixxxx]

Re: White House no longer available to the people....

Got my letter today!

Last week of April/First week of May!

Woohoo!

 

[Weather]

Does it really matter many vacation days past POTUS took? I'm concerened about the present and the future.

 

[Frixxxx]

Does it really matter many vacation days past POTUS took? I'm concerened about the present and the future.

People whining about nothing...it's all about how much we say we're going to spend (expenditures) and how much we take in (taxes).... Budget and tax accordingly!

 

[ATCJeff]

Re: White House no longer available to the people....

Got my letter today!

Last week of April/First week of May!

Woohoo!

My notice is at the post office. I'm not going to spend any time driving and waiting for a letter to tell me something I already know. My rebellious side is kicking in....

 

[Frixxxx]

Re: White House no longer available to the people....

My notice is at the post office. I'm not going to spend any time driving and waiting for a letter to tell me something I already know. My rebellious side is kicking in....

Worst thing for me is having a software release and trying to stay motivated on this schedule is rough with letter in hand. All my contractors are exempt from the furloughed action. They all make 30-50K/yr more than me and can't figure out why I get the unpaid vacation. All I have to do is cut one position and I'm golden! But sadly I can't.....LOL, stupid contract rules!

 

[Sensei]

Well, here 'tis:

Furlough choices made; notifications to go out within days - News - Stripes

 

[Asylum]

Well, here 'tis:

Furlough choices made; notifications to go out within days - News - Stripes

We are getting our notifications offically on Friday (USAF Space) - joy.

 

[Kaufmanrider]

Re: White House no longer available to the people....

My notice is at the post office. I'm not going to spend any time driving and waiting for a letter to tell me something I already know. My rebellious side is kicking in....

I received mine in Feb with a April 21 furlough date. 14 days through end of year. I'll be shooting for 4 day weekends. Last Friday of one pay period, first Monday of next.

Did I mention Jan 11, 2014, is my target out date?

If I can last that long.

 

[nnuut]

Re: White House no longer available to the people....

January will come before you know it, then the pressure relief valve will open and you will be set.

 

[Viva_La_Migra]

Re: White House no longer available to the people....

I received mine in Feb with a April 21 furlough date. 14 days through end of year. I'll be shooting for 4 day weekends. Last Friday of one pay period, first Monday of next.

Did I mention Jan 11, 2014, is my target out date?

If I can last that long.

I have to wait until November of 2020...I hope I can last that long, and still have a retirement available to take!

 

[ATCJeff]

This from my legislative rep:

Just a brief recap, the House of Representatives passed their version of a Continuing Resolution (from here on out referred to as a C.R.) that will continue to fund the government through the next six months (the remainder of fiscal year 2013) as well as gives the Administration the right to move funds within the Defense Department budget but no other departments/programs/budgets. This right to move funds is the House's attempt (understandably) to avoid such strict cuts to defense programs.


The House sent their version of the C.R. to the Senate for their approval. The Senate wanted to insert language to allow the Administration to move funds (understandably) in non-defense departments/programs/budgets. Unfortunately, there was a bipartisan decision that opposed that theory and the language was not included.

The Republicans and Democrats in the Senate were in negotiations over the weekend on how many amendments to consider in the final bill (over 120+ amendments were offered). The authors of the following three amendments will now have to decide to either accept the fact that their amendment was not included in the bill or try and get the full Senate to vote on the amendment, in which case they will need to get more than 60 votes for the amendment to be included in the final version of the Senate bill.

Those amendments are:


a.) Senator Udall (D-CO)/Senator Collins (R-ME) Amendment (which grants non-defense agency head discretion over the automatic sequester cuts collaboratively working with Congress)


b.) Senator Blunt (R-MO) (which identifies/enables the designation of essential and non essential personnel)


c.) Senator Moran (R-KS) (which prevents the closure of contract towers)


This is one of the reasons why I have not been forwarding any information out to all of you ('real time'). While I am a HUGE proponent of open communication and educating our members on the issues, this C.R. debate and subsequent amendments to address sequestration are literally changing by the moment and by the time I get the information and forward to all of you, there is a strong likelihood that things have changed. So please be patient and feel free to call me with ANY and ALL questions. I work a mid on Wednesday nights/Thursday mornings and then I'm off Fridays/Saturdays so I WILL get back to you as soon as I can.


As far as the government funding issue goes, remember that it is separate from the sequestration and must be completed prior to March 27th in order to avert a government shutdown (and is the reason this whole C.R. issue is happening now).

 

[James48843]

I watched the Senate debate on the CR this afternoon. There were four Senate amendments which were considered, and all four failed. Then the Senate voted on their version of the CR (Mikulski amendment) and the bill then passed the Senate 73 to 26 .

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 113[SUP]th[/SUP] Congress - 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Session (2013) (Backward in time today's votes)

[TD="class: contenttext"] Vote [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext, width: 50"] Date [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext, width: 70"] Issue [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext, width: 180"] Question [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext, width: 40"] Result [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] Description [/TD]

[TD="class: contenttext"] 00044 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] 20-Mar[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] H.R. 933 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] On Passage of the Bill[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] Passed[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"]H.R. 933 As Amended; A bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other departments and agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013, and for other purposes.[/TD]

[TD="class: contenttext"] 00043 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] 20-Mar[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] H.R. 933 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] On the Cloture Motion[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] Agreed to[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"]Motion to Invoke Cloture on H.R. 933; A bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other departments and agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013, and for other purposes.[/TD]

[TD="class: contenttext"] 00042 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] 20-Mar[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] H.R. 933 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] On the Amendment S.Amdt. 26 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] Agreed to[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"]Mikulski Amdt. No. 26 As Modified, As Amended; In the nature of a substitute.[/TD]

[TD="class: contenttext"] 00041 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] 20-Mar[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] H.R. 933 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] On the Amendment S.Amdt. 115 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] Rejected[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"]Toomey Amdt. No. 115 As Modified; To increase by $25,000,000 the amount appropriated for Operation and Maintenance for the Department of Defense for programs, projects, and activities in the continental United States, and to provide an offset.[/TD]

[TD="class: contenttext"] 00040 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] 20-Mar[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] H.R. 933 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] On the Amendment S.Amdt. 93 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] Rejected[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"]Coburn Amdt. No. 93; To transfer appropriations from the National Heritage Partnership Program to fund the resumption of public tours of the White House and visitor services and maintenance at national parks and monuments.[/TD]

[TD="class: contenttext"] 00039 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] 20-Mar[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] H.R. 933 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] On the Amendment S.Amdt. 69 [/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"] Rejected[/TD]
[TD="class: contenttext"]Coburn Amdt. No. 69; To prohibit Urban Area Security Initiative grant recipients from funding projects that do not improve homeland security.[/TD]

Bottom line- the Senate version passed today keeps the Sequestor and furloughs in place, just like the House. It cancels the previously approved 0.5% pay raise April 1st. It keeps the cuts. And there is enough differences from the House that it now has to go back to the House either for them to approve as is, or a conference committee will have to work out some kind of a deal

Sucks to be us.

The House and the Senate versions of the CR are different, so they will have to try and find a compromise.

 

[Kaufmanrider]

Bottom line- the Senate version passed today keeps the Sequestor and furloughs in place, just like the House. It cancels the previously approved 0.5% pay raise April 1st. It keeps the cuts. And there is enough differences from the House that it now has to go back to the House either for them to approve as is, or a conference committee will have to work out some kind of a deal

So what effect, if any, would the appropriations funding of Defense, VA, Justice, Commerce, etc., have on those agencies budgets if the Senate CR is accepted by the House?

Federal workers, it appears we have been thrown to the wolves by the House Republicans, and and kicked to the curb by Senate Democrats. I can only imagine what's coming next?

 

[Viva_La_Migra]

I watched the Senate debate on the CR this afternoon. There were four Senate amendments which were considered, and all four failed. Then the Senate voted on their version of the CR (Mikulski amendment) and the bill then passed the Senate 73 to 26 .
Bottom line- the Senate version passed today keeps the Sequestor and furloughs in place, just like the House. It cancels the previously approved 0.5% pay raise April 1st. It keeps the cuts. And there is enough differences from the House that it now has to go back to the House either for them to approve as is, or a conference committee will have to work out some kind of a deal

Sucks to be us.

The House and the Senate versions of the CR are different, so they will have to try and find a compromise.

It's not a cut. It's a reduction in the increase in spending. There's still an increase in spending, just not as much. This is a made up crisis! It sucks that the administration, which is supposed to be labor friendly, will make us pay the price of their little temper tantrum.

 

[Asylum]

... looks like furloughs will occur despite passing of the CR bill thru the Congress:


http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/03/21/government-funding-bill-sails-through-house.aspx

The measure would fund the day-to-day operating budgets of every Cabinet agency through Sept. 30, provide another $87 billion to fund overseas military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and maintain a pay freeze for federal workers.

The measure leaves in place automatic spending cuts of 5 percent to domestic programs and 8 percent to the Pentagon that will mean job furloughs for hundreds of thousands of federal workers but takes steps to ease the impact of those cuts to food inspection and college assistance for active-duty military..