OMB Directs Agencies To Intensify Planning For Possible Sequestration Cuts

Weapons Complex Monitor
January 16, 2013

OMB Directs Agencies To Intensify Planning For Possible Sequestration Cuts

The Department of Energy and other federal agencies have been directed to “intensify efforts” to prepare for the looming funding cuts known as sequestration. In a Jan. 14 memorandum, the White House Office of Management and Budget told federal agencies to continue their planning efforts in the event sequestration is implemented this spring, including taking such steps as identifying “the most appropriate means to reduce civilian workforce costs where necessary— this may include imposing hiring freezes, releasing temporary employees or not renewing term or contract hires, authorizing voluntary separation incentives and voluntary early retirements, or implementing administrative furloughs”; and reviewing “grants and contracts to determine where cost savings may be achieved In a manner that is consistent with the applicable terms and conditions.” The OMB memo states, “While agency plans should reflect intensified efforts to prepare for operations under a potential sequestration, actions that would implement reductions specifically designed as a response to sequestration should generally not be taken at this time. In some cases, however, the overall budgetary uncertainty and operational constraints may require that certain actions be taken in the immediate-or near-term.”

The sequestration process is set to involve a total of $1.2 trillion in funding cuts, equally divided between defense and non-defense funding, over 10 years unless similar deficit reduction legislation is approved. For DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, sequestration would entail a 9.4 percent cut for defense environmental cleanup funding and cuts of 8.2 percent to nondefense environmental cleanup funding and uranium enrichment D&D funding. For the National Nuclear Security Administration, the sequestration cuts would amount to 9.4 percent reductions to weapons and nonproliferation programs. Sequestration was to have gone into effect Jan. 2, but lawmakers approved a measure to push the cuts back until March. “The Administration continues to urge Congress to take prompt action to address the current budgetary uncertainty, including through the enactment of balanced deficit reduction to avoid sequestration,” the OMB memo says, adding, “Should Congress fail to act to avoid sequestration, there will be significant and harmful impacts on a wide variety of Government services and operations.”