Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Internal Government Email: Make Sequester Cuts As Painful As Possible

On the same day this story broke Secretary Vilsack testified before the House Ag Committee To Review The State Of The Rural Economy.  He began his testimony by stating:

...it is my hope that Congress will support these efforts and provide more certainty for American agriculture by stopping the across-the-board spending cuts that went into effect on March 1, and through passage of a comprehensive, multi-year Food, Farm and Jobs Bill.

He concluded his remarks by repeating the sequester mantra:

Finally today, I want to reiterate the critical nature of providing certainty through a balanced and sensible plan to stop the sequester that took effect on March 1...

Now read this post to understand what is really going on.

An internal government email sent Monday instructed an official with a subdivision of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make sure that sequester-related cuts inflict as much pain as possible to make sure “you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be.” When Charles Brown of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service asked “if there was any latitude” in how officials might allocate sequester cuts to reduce negatively impacting fish inspections, Brown received the following reply: “We have gone on record with a notification to Congress and whoever else that ‘APHIS would eliminate assistance to producers in 24 states in managing wildlife damage to the aquaculture industry, unless they provide funding to cover the costs.’ So it is our opinion that however you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be.” Lawmakers say the email is further evidence that the Obama Administration is seeking to inflict maximum pain for the minimal $85 billion in cuts...more

A program manager asks for flexibility in implementing the small cuts, but is told his first priority is stopping wildlife damage control in 24 states.  Not good management, but what they think is good politics.  Their biggest fear is the initial stages of these cuts will result in nothing the public sees or cares about.  That's not good for the tax eaters in D.C.

1 comment:

Tick said...

Frank...thanks, I could never have said it as well in so few words.