Any federal employees facing a furlough?

[smitch425]

Is not a 20% paycut for the year but 20% for 22 weeks. That is a real cut of 8.5% and part of that will e recouped in the cost of going to work, cost of daycare, mowing your own lawn rather than hiring a service or other stuff.

I believe this will just be a paid vacation like all furloughs in the past.

I would love for this to be a "paid vacation", but all indications as of now are that the money will not be retro paid (nor OT given). Our one income family will be losing over $10,000 . That's no small amount, and we already cut our own grass. Thank God the only debt we have is our mortgage, but for so many of our friends, this is going to be really hard to get through.

The latest info DH has been given is that he will be responsible for selecting everyone's furlough day. I feel so bad for him...he is in a tough spot. He will put his needs/wants last like he always does. He's that type of guy. Fortunately, most of his employees are also his friends, so they understand the position he is in. He is really lucky in that aspect.

 

[Mokat76]

But who and where? As noted earlier in the thread, the House has passed a number of budgets in the past 4 years all of which the Senate has tabled and refused to bring to the floor. So, do we still pay House members and not the Senate?

Personally I think we should lock all of them in a giant room - Senate, House and President - with no cameras, computers, phones, food or water until they come out with a plan they can agree to.

And if we lose a couple in the skirmish, we can just call it collateral damage and move on.

Although this really is not a laughing matter to me or many of my fellow feds, this solution made me LOL, especially the last paragraph. Thanks, Hoodie. I needed this visual.

 

[disykat]

Unfortunately, the talk of furloughs is just the start of it. DH will be furloughed.

My job depends on federal funding that my employer will be losing so the likelihood is strong that my job (part time in case you're wondering why I'm DISing!) will cease to exist. Those hits, along with private employers who will go out of business or decrease staffing will be coming up before long. I think there are a lot of people out there still blissfully unaware of what's coming.

And don't forget, we've still got he continuing resolution/government shut-down business coming up again.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I guess this is it.

 

[Tiggeroo]

No surprise. They haven't solved it. This congress is a disgrace in so many ways.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

No surprise. They haven't solved it. This congress is a disgrace in so many ways.

You are so very right! It was nice of our president to schedule a meeting to discuss this today wasn't it? It's a little late!

I'm more worried about what will happen in 30 days now.

 

[SAHDad]

You are so very right! It was nice of our president to schedule a meeting to discuss this today wasn't it? It's a little late!

I'm more worried about what will happen in 30 days now.

Really, very little should happen - I haven't checked the numbers for everything, but for what I have checked, these aren't even real cuts for this year - they are reductions in the rate of increase. (IOW, if you had a budget of $1 billion last year, and wanted $1.1 billion this year, but only got $1.05 billion, you had a "cut" of $.05 billion.)

The whole thing is playing out as a "firemen first" cut. No one talks about getting rid of redundancy, cutting back on travel, etc. No, it's furlough air traffic controllers (increased budget since 2001, even though air travel is still down about 25% from 2001 levels), get rid of first responders, and the like. There was a GAO report from 2011 that talked about getting rid of, or consolidating, a whole raft of current programs, saving $100 to $200 billion per year - or more than twice the current sequester. Won't happen, though.

This whole thing is a farce, wrapped in a comedy, and marinated in a tragedy. But hey, at least we have Dancing with the Stars, the latest tabloid gossip, and LoLcats to distract us, right?

 

[mdsoccermom]

My husband is federal law enforcement and was in a 2 hour meeting yesterday. They were told that every single person will get a furlough notice, so don't be surprised. They were told that even if they get a notice, does NOT mean everyone will be furloughed. It's procedural. For his agency, furlough will be the absolute last resort.

 

[ilovemk76]

But who and where? As noted earlier in the thread, the House has passed a number of budgets in the past 4 years all of which the Senate has tabled and refused to bring to the floor. So, do we still pay House members and not the Senate?

Personally I think we should lock all of them in a giant room - Senate, House and President - with no cameras, computers, phones, food or water until they come out with a plan they can agree to.

And if we lose a couple in the skirmish, we can just call it collateral damage and move on.

I am 100% behind this. I love the last sentence! We should tell them we are letting them out but we already furloughed the key holder.

I would love for this to be a "paid vacation", but all indications as of now are that the money will not be retro paid (nor OT given). Our one income family will be losing over $10,000 . That's no small amount, and we already cut our own grass. Thank God the only debt we have is our mortgage, but for so many of our friends, this is going to be really hard to get through.

The latest info DH has been given is that he will be responsible for selecting everyone's furlough day. I feel so bad for him...he is in a tough spot. He will put his needs/wants last like he always does. He's that type of guy. Fortunately, most of his employees are also his friends, so they understand the position he is in. He is really lucky in that aspect.

Bold 1 - That was always the case in the past too.

If your DH makes over 50K in 22 weeks (that is $57/hr) then your earn more than most of the families in the US and they make it work year after year after year. There are two income families that combined do not earn that much. Your being a single income family is of no concern. That is a choice your family made and you can chose to make up the difference by becoming a two income family.

The federal government is bloated. It needs to be trimmed, some of that will be people, by a huge amount.

Bold 2 - He is a manager and that is what managers get paid to do. Does he have to furlough on all days of the week or just everybody once a week? He could do half on Monday and half on Friday. Everybody gets a three day weekend. He could do 20% each day in a rotation, M - W - F - T - TH and then repeat. Each starts on a different day.

Bold 3 - A friend outside of work is just an employee inside of work.


I am not picking on you but showing how your "poor us" looks to others who do not have it as nice as you do.

 

[Geoff_M]

Really, very little should happen - I haven't checked the numbers for everything, but for what I have checked, these aren't even real cuts for this year - they are reductions in the rate of increase. (IOW, if you had a budget of $1 billion last year, and wanted $1.1 billion this year, but only got $1.05 billion, you had a "cut" of $.05 billion.)

....

This whole thing is a farce, wrapped in a comedy, and marinated in a tragedy. But hey, at least we have Dancing with the Stars, the latest tabloid gossip, and LoLcats to distract us, right?

This chart makes your point nicely:

So, it appears that the little sliver at the top of 2013 spending bar is what pays for 20% of federal employee salaries, pays for all of our discretionary defense spending, keeps tainted meat off the shelves, pays for the TSA staff at airports, keeps commercials jets from crashing mid-air, pays for preschool, pays for teachers, keeps that Washington Monument open, keeps homes from burning down, allows EMS to respond to heart attack victims, keeps illegal aliens awaiting deportation locked up, allows women to get mammograms, vaccinates our kids, feeds our senior citizens, keeps away the plagues of locusts, and prevents the sudden deaths of every first-born male.

All I can say, is that if we cannot manage to prevent the above list of horrors from happening while only spending $15B MORE in 2013 and we did as a nation in 2012, then it's safe to say that we're screwed as a country. Heaven help us if we actually had to make some REAL spending cuts year to year.

I think what we're hearing about and seeing are worst-case hypotheticals along with tactics being employed designed to produce the most "pain" possible by those in charge in an effort to produce a desired response from the masses.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

No agreement. Big shocker.

 

[punkin]

This chart makes your point nicely:

So, it appears that the little sliver at the top of 2013 spending bar is what pays for 20% of federal employee salaries, pays for all of our discretionary defense spending, keeps tainted meat off the shelves, pays for the TSA staff at airports, keeps commercials jets from crashing mid-air, pays for preschool, pays for teachers, keeps that Washington Monument open, keeps homes from burning down, allows EMS to respond to heart attack victims, keeps illegal aliens awaiting deportation locked up, allows women to get mammograms, vaccinates our kids, feeds our senior citizens, keeps away the plagues of locusts, and prevents the sudden deaths of every first-born male.

All I can say, is that if we cannot manage to prevent the above list of horrors from happening while only spending $15B MORE in 2013 and we did as a nation in 2012, then it's safe to say that we're screwed as a country. Heaven help us if we actually had to make some REAL spending cuts year to year.

I think what we're hearing about and seeing are worst-case hypotheticals along with tactics being employed designed to produce the most "pain" possible by those in charge in an effort to produce a desired response from the masses.

Completely OT, but the Washington Monument is currently closed and private money was pledged to re-open it.

 

[Mokat76]

If your DH makes over 50K in 22 weeks (that is $57/hr) then your earn more than most of the families in the US and they make it work year after year after year. There are two income families that combined do not earn that much. Your being a single income family is of no concern. That is a choice your family made and you can chose to make up the difference by becoming a two income family.

I am not picking on you but showing how your "poor us" looks to others who do not have it as nice as you do.

Wow. Bitter much? All you can focus on is he gets paid more than someone else? Get over it. It isn't a crime to be successful. It isn't a crime to be successful as a government employee. His family is taking a big financial hit and you want to dance on their grave because somehow in your mind their choices are invalid. She's not saying "poor us." She's stating a fact about what they stand to lose. A 20 percent cut is a 20 percent cut. It doesn't matter what you make, it still hurts.

 

[hucifer]

It doesn't matter what you make, it still hurts.

Yep.

 

[Geoff_M]

Completely OT, but the Washington Monument is currently closed and private money was pledged to re-open it.

Yeah, I forgot about that little "earthquake thing" didn't I?

 

[ilovemk76]

Wow. Bitter much? Pointing out facts is not being bitter. All you can focus on is he gets paid more than someone else? Get over it. It isn't a crime to be successful. It isn't a crime to be successful as a government employee. His family is taking a big financial hit and you want to dance on their grave because somehow in your mind their choices are invalid. She's not saying "poor us." Yes she is. I do not need a thread to tell me how to live on less. I know how to do that. I know people who make way less and they have mortgages and know how to live on less. She's stating a fact about what they stand to lose. A 20 percent cut is a 20 percent cut. It is not a 20% cut but an 8.5% cut over the year. It will not even happen for most for two more months. It doesn't matter what you make, it still hurts. Only if you live paycheck to paycheck. It could reduce your amount you can save, but you should be saving a minimum of 10%. 10% is greater than 8.5%.

 

[disykat]

I feel like we aren't even reading the same threads. I may have said this before, because I know I said it on one of the furlough threads. Almost every post here from someone being furloughed has recognized it won't be devastating in terms of feeding their families etc. and certainly not comparable to losing jobs altogether, which is bound to happen at some point with budget cuts. Many posts have spoken of planning on making changes so they don't dip into their emergency funds etc. because they don't consider this an emergency.

Fact is, most people don't like to lose hours, thus money, at work. People like to talk to each other when they know they are facing similar things. Just because we get our income from the government doesn't make us any different.

Many of us know this is the tip of the iceberg if furloughs continue. It's not about 6 months. It's about a pretty much permanent cut. It's about people losing jobs due to funding (like mine will be if the sequester stands.) It's about communities that revolved around the DOD having big problems with their overall economy and lots of others losing employment as well. If one spouse loses 8.5% and the other will probably lose their job and have no hope of finding another in a devastated community, it's a scary proposition because it's lifechanging.

We all know cuts need to be made. That doesn't mean it won't stink if it's our particular job that is cut.

 

[punkin]

I feel like we aren't even reading the same threads. I may have said this before, because I know I said it on one of the furlough threads. Almost every post here from someone being furloughed has recognized it won't be devastating in terms of feeding their families etc. and certainly not comparable to losing jobs altogether, which is bound to happen at some point with budget cuts. Many posts have spoken of planning on making changes so they don't dip into their emergency funds etc. because they don't consider this an emergency.

Fact is, most people don't like to lose hours, thus money, at work. People like to talk to each other when they know they are facing similar things. Just because we get our income from the government doesn't make us any different.

Many of us know this is the tip of the iceberg if furloughs continue. It's not about 6 months. It's about a pretty much permanent cut. It's about people losing jobs due to funding (like mine will be if the sequester stands.) It's about communities that revolved around the DOD having big problems with their overall economy and lots of others losing employment as well. If one spouse loses 8.5% and the other will probably lose their job and have no hope of finding another in a devastated community, it's a scary proposition.

We all know cuts need to be made. That doesn't mean it won't stink if it's our particular job that is cut.

It seems like some people hate the government and its employees so much that they are positively gleeful at our pain. I just don't get that, but that attitude comes across loud and clear in some posts.

My DH will not be affected by the sequester despite working for the government. I still can manage to feel compassion for my friends and neighbors (lots of them here in the DC suburbs) who will be affected. Schadenfreude is not an emotion I indulge in very often.

 

[Christine]

It seems like some people hate the government and its employees so much that they are positively gleeful at our pain. I just don't get that, but that attitude comes across loud and clear in some posts.

My DH will not be affected by the sequester despite working for the government. I still can manage to feel compassion for my friends and neighbors (lot's of them here in the DC suburbs) who will be affected. Schadenfreude is not an emotion I indulge in very often.

Very well put from both punkin and disykat. I also don't like the slam on the income level of the one poster and then comparing it to the national average. Yes, if a govenment employee lives in the DC area (I have no idea where ANY of these posters live) they make $100,000 per year, losing one days pay per week is pretty harsh. No one said they were going to the poor house. But to compares someone with that income who lives in a high COLA to "the national average" which takes in people's incomes in also in the lowest parts of the country--well, you can't compare.

My FIL was a GS-14 in the DC area. He and his wife lived in a small townhouse here in the DC area and were considered to have a very modest income. He took a job transfer to Asheville, NC. His DC locality pay was cut so he made less money but, according to him, lived like an absolute KING in the NC.

I think it's very unfair to make point out that someone making what the one poster's husband was making (as a manager) was so grand that they should be able to make do because most people in the country make do on $56,000 or something. It all just sounds like Fox News talking points to me.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

This stinks for all the government employees, businesses who do things for the government, communities with a high concentration of government employees, and the nation as a whole.

I commend the families who had the foresight to prepare for this with emergency funds and plans in how to trim expenses. I pray for the people who don't have savings or plans and will be struggling.

I don't have a problem with gov't employees. I have a problem with the idea that Americans have had to learn to live within their means, cut costs, do without and sacrifice, but the government has not. I know the employees have had to make personal cuts, but the government agencies have not.