WhatFinger

Monstrous.

GAO: Despite apocalyptic warnings the onerous, machiavellian, sequester cut exactly 1 federal job

By Robert Laurie ——--May 9, 2014

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If you were paying attention during the battle over the sequester, you remember the apocalyptic warnings. Democrats claimed that if Republicans went ahead with the measure - which was invented and pushed by Obama's White House - federal employment numbers would be decimated. This, they said, would thrill GOP membership, because they hate the poor, downtrodden, underpaid and overworked federal machine. If the left was to be believed, permanent job cuts would mandate the firing of thousands of government employees who would then wander the streets, participating in underground, winner-gets-a-bowl-of soup bumfights in order to survive.
Now that some time has passed, let's take a look and see just how many federal workers were forced out of sequester-eliminated jobs. From the Washington Times:
Only one employee in the entire federal government lost a job due to sequestration, according to a government audit that found the only permanent cut came at the U.S. Parole Commission, which eliminated one position. Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, said Wednesday that the audit — performed by the Government Accountability Office and released last month — shows that the worries over sequestration’s impact on jobs was overblown.
“Despite relentless warnings about the dire consequences of sequestration’s budget cuts, it appears sequestration resulted in only one layoff,” he said. “While that’s good news for federal employees and other workers, it is devastating to the credibility of Washington politicians and administration officials who spent months — and millions of dollars — engaging in a coordinated multi-agency cabinet-level public relations campaign to scare the American people.”
That's right, one job was cut. One. Not "one hundred thousand," not "one thousand," and not "one hundred." Just one. As in "one more than zero." Yes, there were some temporary furloughs, but virtually no one was permanently displaced. Instead of creating a new army of Jean Valjeans who would roam about Georgetown stealing bread, agencies simply muddled through.
Seven departments or agencies did furlough employees, but even that was less than a third of government agencies and departments surveyed by the GAO. Instead, those 15 departments and agencies that didn’t furlough employees ended up using leftover savings or cutting other programs.
Cue the whining progs who think that any budget cut is a violent rape of the true and righteous federal machine. Got by on savings!? Cutting programs!? How dare they force a deeply indebted government to do such things!

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Robert Laurie——

Robert Laurie’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain.com

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