Questioning Furloughs and Lack of Federal Agency Planning

My grandmother always said, "Hope for the best, but plan for the worst." It is smart advice that federal agency heads should have followed in preparation for the sequester. Unfortunately, most didnt. Despite knowing since August 2011 that these cuts were a possibility, most agencies kept spending like their budgets would remain intact. That makes no sense.

I co-chaired a hearing last week with Representative Jim Jordon from Ohio to look further into this issue.

What we found was disturbing. It seems like the Administration is making these cuts as painful as possible for political gain. Officials are claiming that furloughs, not reining in bonuses, or cutting wasteful or frivolous spending, are the only way for federal agencies to weather sequester cuts—and that’s just not true.

USA Today did a story about the hearing, saying: "Congressional Republicans are preparing to grill federal officials about why agencies were slow to develop plans for across-the-board budget cuts enacted in 2011, and whether they could have done more to avoid the unpaid leave that federal workers may face because of those cuts."