FAA, Border Control, and customs agents face furloughs and reduced overtime

[Jenna]

The disruptions stemmed from a Homeland Security Department decision to reduce overtime, an initial consequence of budget cuts that took effect March 1 and may lead to furloughs next month. The changes will mean fewer federal workers at airports, harbors and land borders, making it harder for passengers and produce to clear customs, officials said.

The Federal Aviation Administration today indicated that it intends to issue furlough notices to “all its employees,” Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a labor union, said in an e-mailed statement. In a month there will be fewer controllers in towers, and increased delays for travelers, Church said. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta warned of furloughs in a letter to agency employees on Feb. 11.Importers of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squash, cucumbers and other fruits and vegetables are bracing for long lines at border crossings, said Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas. Shipments may surge as weather and markets change, and companies rely on customs agents being present when needed, he said.

Undocumented immigrants and cargo will likely flow across the border with Mexico and into the U.S. as border patrol agents take a pay cut amounting to 35 percent from furlough days and missing overtime, J. David Cox Sr., national president of the American Federation of Government Employees union, said in an e- mailed statement today.

Delays Grow for Travelers to Tomatoes as U.S. Cuts Hours - Bloomberg

[pgg]

This is such bull shit and nothing more then a political ploy on the Obama administrations part. The "sequester" has done NOTHING to reduce spending. It has only reduced the amount of increase in spending we have done. We are still digging a hole faster into debt then ever before.

[Pudge]

Meanwhile, every crack den I've been to still has a nice flat screen on the wall hooked to an Xbox and/or PS3 while they're eating steak off of the stamps and leaving the front door wide open blowing the heat out in to the hood.


Well played, Gov't. Well fucking played.