Making The Sequester Hurt....

In response to the sequester, several federal agencies have begun furloughing employees because of budget cuts.  It’s not a new thing.  Furloughs of federal employees have occurred before during times of financial crisis.  It happened in the early 90s when Congress could not reach a budget agreement. 

What’s different this time is it seems these furloughs are being executed in areas that will cause the most pain and/or discomfort to the American people.  A good example is the Federal Aviation Administration’s furlough of air traffic controllers.

The FAA got more money in their fiscal year 2013 allocation than they requested.  When the sequester took effect they received 4% less than the amount they were intended to receive.  Reportedly that took them back to 2010 spending levels.  There have been hiring freezes in place for the federal government since 2010.  So how is it the FAA suddenly has to furlough air traffic controllers?

The FAA has 49,000 employees and contract employees.  This number includes just over 15,000 air traffic controllers.  Common sense would predict that contract employees and non-essential personnel would be furloughed first rather than essential staff.  The Justice department moved money around for law enforcement positions by moving money around.  Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both did the same things during the air traffic controllers’ strike in the 80s and the government shutdown in the 90s.  They both found ways to keep essential personnel, including air traffic controllers, working so as not to inconvenience people nationwide.  Apparently President Obama doesn’t feel the same way.

Prior to the sequester taking effect, Republican lawmakers passed two separate bills to fund the FAA and offered the President authority to designate sequester cuts as he wished. He refused.  Why is that, one would ask.  The answer is more simple than some people might imagine.  There is an election coming up in 2014 in which many Republicans in the House and Senate are up for re-election.  If the sequester is painful on the majority of Americans and the President can continue to blame Republicans for it, he can try to manipulate the vote and win majorities in both houses, giving him far more capabilities to further his agenda in his last two years in office.  With a majority in both houses he could also, presumably, get a bill passed that allowed for him to be elected to a third term in office – maybe even an indefinite term in office.   

Certainly some people won’t believe it unless it happens but it is not as far-fetched as it may seem.  Already a bill has been introduced by Democrats to change or repeal the 22^nd Amendment, making it possible for Obama to run again in 2016.  There is also a rumor that he would run as Hillary’s Vice Presidential candidate, which would not violate the 22^nd Amendment.  That amendment says “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”  It does not prevent a two-term elected President from being Vice President, nor does it preclude him from being President again if something should happen to the President.  So theoretically, Hillary could run using Obama to boost her votes and then, if something happened to her, Obama could be President again.  It sounds far-fetched…  but so did killing American citizens with drone strikes until recently.

Many people believe the administration is using air traffic controllers, White House tours, and other instances to make the sequester painful to further his causes.  Nothing surprises me these days so I won’t pretend it hasn’t occurred to me.  Time will tell.  But time will also tell if it was a good idea or a bad one.  It seems to me the American people are getting rather tired of being inconvenienced.  And despite the press releases from Jay Carney and the state run media – the American people also know there is only one person who signs a bill into law, and that’s the President.  And me thinks he doth protest too much….