Anonymously contributed:
Note from Scooby: Hey contributor: who is this message from?
1000 more to go. I say lets Get-R-Done ASAP Nationally across the board.
To: all-employee
Subject: Update
As I promised to do in my column earlier this week, I want to update everyone as to the actions we're taking to inform Congress about what impact serious Federal budget cuts would have on the national laboratories.
I spent most of this week in Washington, D.C. with several of my fellow lab directors, visiting members of Congress. We delivered the message that thousands of jobs would be lost, and America's competitiveness and capacity for innovation in scientific research would be seriously jeopardized in both the short and long term if cuts proposed by the House are enacted. We plan to continue making those points with lawmakers between now and March 4, when the continuing resolution currently funding the Federal Government runs out.
To bring the point home, the laboratories undertook a budget exercise, showing how devastating an 18 percent cut would be in the middle of the fiscal year. For SLAC, such a cut would mean most activity at the lab would stop for the rest of the fiscal year and we would have to lay off or furlough up to 1000 staff. This message has made headway with some lawmakers, who discussed it in a press conference yesterday. A story about how the cuts would affect SLAC ran today in the Palo Alto Weekly on line.
It's important to keep in mind that these numbers represent a worst-case scenario. As I said in my column, there is a significant difference between what is being proposed by the House Appropriations Committee, and the President's budget priorities. It remains unlikely that a budget would pass both houses of Congress and be signed by the President with cuts as severe as these. Nevertheless, it's crucial that we continue to communicate how SLAC and other laboratories are making a difference, not only in providing jobs and benefits to our communities, but how innovations arising from national laboratory research is changing people's lives every day.
I'll continue to keep you informed as the situation develops.
Persis
12 comments:
How do we know you're not a shill? You need to provide more substantive info. or proof that you are inside the beltway and "in the know".
This sounds interesting, but I'm skeptical. Please understand.
This is from Persis Drell, Director of SLAC.
Her father is Sidney Drell, who is a member for the LANS Board and he was also a founding member of the JASON Defense Advisory Group.
Massive cuts in government spending will result in massive loss of government-funded jobs. Who didn't expect this? Are all these government workers liberal Democrats? These government cuts are required to balance the budget and pay down the debt. Your choice to make your career dependent on the federal government may have been a mistake. Changes happen. Due notice.
"Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe," Chu said in September 2008. (AP News)
Not only is the esteemed Dr. Chu pretty much destroying what is left of our nuclear weapons research labs, he's also helping to destroy our whole US economy with his misguided far-left beliefs!
If you must know:
Original Message-----
From: owner-all-employee@slac.stanford.edu [mailto:owner-all-employee@slac.stanford.edu] On Behalf Of Drell, Persis S.
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 3:48 PM
To: all-employee
Subject: Update
Again I say let's get-r-done and over with. Bring on that $7 - $10 a gallon and lets see what happens. This morning gas was $3.79 for regular at Chevron. $3.999 for the good stuff. We're getting to that promised $5.00 by spring.
Thank you March 2, 2011 11:28 AM
The contrast in lab leadership is stunning! Persis, director of a real science lab, is frank and honestly engages SLAC employees in the face of crisis. LLNL and especially LANL directors are nowhere to be seen or heard. Why does Sid and the board of governors tolerate these "leader" wanabes?
Are those giant mushrooms I see growing in the dark corner of my LANL office on a big pile of fresh, stinking LANS management manure? Why, yes, they are!
Has Charlie McMillan been crowed Director yet? What about Brett Knapp? Has he been elevated to Charlie's former PAD position?
We never hear about these things here at this lab until it has been properly sanitized in official LANS public releases for the newspapers.
Not only are you changing lives but you're taking some with you. With your contamination waste disposal techniques If less money in the hands of the people that are supposed to be defending or great country means less Americans dying from ground water contamination then so be it win little kids learn how to rinse their dishes and but them in the sink then maybe than can have there ice cream
March 4, 2011 4:00 AM
If you want to make a point, a little less ranting and a little more facts and logic would be nice. Spelling and punctuation count, too.
Hope everyone who works at the NNSA labs have their bank accounts flush with cash to pay their mortgages and utility bills after March 15th.
It's beginning to look more and more like a significant government shutdown is coming and it could last far longer than most people think.
Bummer!
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