The Obama administration is urging federal officials not to exercise maximum flexibility in implementing automatic spending reductions in order to validate White House talking points, according to an e-mail sent Monday. In the message, Charles Brown, a regional director of the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), recalls asking senior administration officials “if there was any latitude in how the sequestration cuts . . . could be managed” in order to minimize their impact on federal fish inspections.
Brown said officials in Washington advised him against trying to lessen the impact of the cuts because the White House had already “gone on record” indicating how severe they thought the effects of sequestration would be on the wildlife industry, so managers should therefore ensure that the cuts are as advertised.
Brown wrote: “The response back was, ‘We have gone on record with a notification to Congress and whoever else that “APHIS would eliminate assistance to producers in 24 States in managing wildlife damage to the aquaculture industry, unless they provide funding to cover the costs.” So, it is our opinion that however you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be.’”
Republicans have accused the administration intentionally undermining government operations for political purposes. “This email confirms what many Americans have suspected: The Obama Administration is doing everything they can to make sure their worst predictions come true and to maximize the pain of the Sequester cuts for political gain,” Representative Tim Griffin (R., Ark.) said in a statement. “Instead of cutting waste, the Obama Administration is hurting workers. President Obama should stop protecting wasteful government spending.”
Also, From The Wall Street Journal
#SequesterThis
Meat inspectors have to go, but fine wines are still on the USDA menu.
In its bid to make the sequester as painful as possible, the White House announced Tuesday that it is canceling all visitor tours of the White House "during the popular Spring touring season." This fits President Obama's political strategy to punish the eighth graders visiting from Illinois instead of, say, the employees of the Agriculture Department who will attend a California conference sipping "exceptional local wines" and sampling "tasty dishes" prepared by "special guest chefs."
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Yes, even as the White House warns that the modest automatic spending cuts will force the furlough of meat inspectors, two divisions of the Agriculture Department will underwrite the 26th California Small Farm Conference in Fresno next week.
The event will feature USDA speakers, field trips, a banquet and a tasting reception, according to the conference website. Conference organizers promise the tasting will be a "mouthwatering event" featuring "fine wines and exceptional micro-brews paired with seasonally driven culinary delicacies." How can we sign up?
In April, the penny-pinchers at the USDA will also sponsor the Priester National Health Extension Conference in Corvallis, Oregon. The pressing object of this four-day event will be to "provide resource support to professionals and community leaders working to improve community health," although attendees will sneak in their own wine tasting. We recommend the state's pinots.
Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn noted in a Tuesday letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that while these conferences may be "fun," or "even educational," they reveal an agency unable to set priorities that serve taxpayers as opposed to its own bureaucratic interests. The agency fans public fear about salmonella outbreaks even as its public servants serve themselves haute cuisine.
Mr. Coburn and others are providing Americans with a window on this and other fiscal contradictions at #SequesterThis on Twitter, and we recommend that readers take a look. Then decide if the federal government is so wonderfully efficient that it can only cut spending that most hurts the public.
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