Pentagon Confirms Furloughs Would Begin Late April

If sequestration is triggered next week, unpaid furloughs for civilian Defense Department employees will start in late April, Pentagon officials confirmed today.

Sequestration is a provision in budget law that will trigger across-the-board spending cuts March 1 unless Congress agrees on an alternative.

D0D Comptroller Robert F. Hale told reporters at a Pentagon news conference that if sequestration happens, the department will cut virtually every program and investment, and that almost all civilian employees will be affected.

Jessica L. Wright, the acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said that sequestration and the continuing resolution – a temporary funding measure for the federal government that’s set to expire March 27 – will affect military personnel.

The department has already slowed spending, instituted a hiring freeze, ordered layoffs for temporary and term employees and cut back base operations and maintenance.

The process of furloughing civilians began today, with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta sending notification to Congress.

If sequester happens, each employee will be notified.

Wright said the vast majority of D0D’s almost 800,000 civilian employees will be furloughed. D0D civilians in a war zone and political appointees who are confirmed by the Senate will not be furloughed. Non-appropriated fund employees and local national employees will not be affected.

Limited exceptions will be made for the purposes of safety of life and health, Wright said, such as firefighters, police and some nurses.

While military personnel accounts are exempt from sequestration, there will be second- and third-order effects, Wright said. For example, hours at exchanges and commissaries could be affected, and family programs could be reduced or cut. It is unclear at this point how DoD Education Activity schools will be affected.

The spending cuts will affect military health care, as some 40 percent of the personnel working in the system are civilians. Elective surgeries could be delayed or eliminated, and costs cannot be shifted to the TRICARE military health plan, because that program also will be hit by cuts.

Affected employees would be furloughed for 22 discontinuous days – 176 hours – between implementation and the end of fiscal 2013, with no more than 16 furlough hours per pay period.

Source: American Forces Press Service