Actual post from Dec. 15 from one of the streams. This is a real topic. As far as promoting women and minorities even if their qualifications are not as good as the white male scientists, I am all for it. We need diversity at the lab and if that is what it takes, so be it. Quit your whining. Look around the lab, what do you see? White male geezers. How many African Americans do you see at the lab? Virtually none. LLNL is one of the MOST undiverse places you will see. Face it folks, LLNL is an institution of white male privilege and they don't want to give up their privileged positions. California, a state of majority Hispanics has the "crown jewel" LLNL nestled in the middle of it with very FEW Hispanics at all!
Comments
February 9th, 2011 - -
CR Spending Cuts to Go Deep
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers today announced a partial list of 70 spending cuts that will be included in an upcoming Continuing Resolution (CR) bill. The CR legislation will fund the federal government for the seven months remaining in the fiscal year and prevent a government wide shut-down, while significantly reducing the massive increases in discretionary spending enacted in the last several years by a Democrat majority. A full list of program cuts will be released when the bill is formally introduced.
The total spending cuts in the CR will exceed $74 billion, including $58 billion in non-security discretionary spending reductions.
The List of 70 Spending Cuts to be Included in the CR follows:
· Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies -$30M
· Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy -$899M
· Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability -$49M
· Nuclear Energy -$169M
· Fossil Energy Research -$31M
· Clean Coal Technology -$18M
· Strategic Petroleum Reserve -$15M
· Energy Information Administration -$34M
· Office of Science -$1.1B
· Power Marketing Administrations -$52M
· Department of Treasury -$268M
· Internal Revenue Service -$593M
· Treasury Forfeiture Fund -$338M
· GSA Federal Buildings Fund -$1.7B
· ONDCP -$69M
· International Trade Administration -$93M
· Economic Development Assistance -$16M
· Minority Business Development Agency -$2M
· National Institute of Standards and Technology -$186M
· NOAA -$336M
· National Drug Intelligence Center -$11M
· Law Enforcement Wireless Communications -$52M
· US Marshals Service -$10M
· FBI -$74M
· State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance -$256M
· Juvenile Justice -$2.3M
· COPS -$600M
· NASA -$379M
· NSF -$139M
· Legal Services Corporation -$75M
· EPA -$1.6B
· Food Safety and Inspection Services -$53M
· Farm Service Agency -$201M
· Agriculture Research -$246M
· Natural Resource Conservation Service -$46M
· Rural Development Programs -$237M
· WIC -$758M
· International Food Aid grants -$544M
· FDA -$220M
· Land and Water Conservation Fund -$348M
· National Archives and Record Service -$20M
· DOE Loan Guarantee Authority -$1.4B
· EPA ENERGY STAR -$7.4M
· EPA GHG Reporting Registry -$9M
· USGS -$27M
· EPA Cap and Trade Technical Assistance -$5M
· EPA State and Local Air Quality Management -$25M
· Fish and Wildlife Service -$72M
· Smithsonian -$7.3M
· National Park Service -$51M
· Clean Water State Revolving Fund -$700M
· Drinking Water State Revolving Fund -$250M
· EPA Brownfields -$48M
· Forest Service -$38M
· National Endowment for the Arts -$6M
· National Endowment for the Humanities -$6M
· Job Training Programs -$2B
· Community Health Centers -$1.3B
· Maternal and Child Health Block Grants -$210M
· Family Planning -$327M
· Poison Control Centers -$27M
· CDC -$755M
· NIH -$1B
· Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services -$96M
· LIHEAP Contingency fund -$400M
· Community Services Block Grant -$405M
· High Speed Rail -$1B
· FAA Next Gen -$234M
· Amtrak -$224M
· HUD Community Development Fund -$530M
(All reductions are compared to the President’s fiscal year 2011 request)
http://republicans.appropriations.house.gov/_files/ProgramCutsFY2011ContinuingResolution.pdf
The real question - When will Congress take a hard look at can the country support 2 "healthy" nuclear weapons design/physics labs, given the shrinking number and diversity of systems in the stockpile.
So how long can the Labs run before checks start bouncing and operations have to be shut down?
Of particular note, DOD spending will be cut almost 6% and DOE funding will be cut almost 13%. The pain and talks of looming layoffs are about to begin:
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WASHINGTON (AP) – Here are the spending levels proposed by President Barack Obama for each federal agency in his 2012 budget. All totals are in billions of dollars. Because Congress has not completed action on 2011 spending legislation, the administration used the president's 2011 budget request as the basis for the 2011 spending estimates for each agency.
Dept -- Total 2011 -- Total 2012 -- % Change
Agriculture 147.8 145.6 -1.5
Commerce 9.2 10.4 13.9
Defense 772.1 727.4 -5.8
Education 49.1 68 38.5
Energy 31.2 27.2 -12.7
EPA 9.9 8.8 -11.2
Health and Human Services 895.6 886.8 -1.0
Homeland Security 43.5 44.3 1.8
Housing and Urban Development 55.9 47.2 -15.5
Interior 12.4 11.8 -4.4
Justice 32.6 31 -5.1
Labor 149.5 108.8 -27.2
State 74.2 73.6 -0.7
Transportation 76.5 128.6 68.1
Treasury 467.3 520.3 11.4
Veterans 123.4 129 4.5
Social Security 803.1 818.3 1.9
NASA 18.9 18.7 -0.9
Legislative Branch 4.8 5.2 6.9
Judiciary 7.3 7.6 4.3
Army Corps of Engineers 4.9 4.6 -6.1
Other Agencies 120.7 131.5 8.9
TOTAL 3,651 3,685 0.9
Get rid of the crazy "for-profit" NNSA lab management contracts and put these science labs back under a non-profit entity.
Not only will you save lots of government money, but the workers at these "prison" labs will thank you dearly!
Obama's budget includes 21% hike for infrastructure at LANL, other labs
Then, again, with Bechtel running the labs, maybe it all makes sense in the end.
blog/2011/02/congress_moves_to_help_terrori.html
FEBRUARY 14, 2011 - Baltimore Sun (Blog)
***** Congress moves to help terrorists *****
John Hancock Blog:
I can't find this on the Web yet, but here is the whole press release from Council for a Livable World. The possiblility of nukes falling into the hands of terrorists remains the No. 1 threat to global stability. Spending money to control loose nukes is one of the best investments the United States can make. The program has enjoyed broad bipartisan support. House Republicans should wake up. This is one program that shouldn't be tossed out in the zeal to cut costs.
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Washington, DC. Council for a Livable World today denounced the proposed House Republican budget for Fiscal Year 2011 "for undercutting the fight against nuclear terrorism."
The House Appropriations Committee on Friday recommended $2.085 billion for "Defense Nuclear Proliferation" in the National Nuclear Security Agency, a whopping cut of $602 million, or 22% from programs that keep nuclear weapon materials out of the hands of terrorists.
These funds are used to reduce the global threat posed by nuclear weapons, nuclear proliferation and unsecure nuclear materials.
One trillion dollar deficits cannot be sustained much longer and to correct the budget entitlements will have to be cut. However, before entitlements are cut all other departments and agencies will be severely cut. DOE will not be able to support two nuclear weapons research labs and it is clear that LANL will be the surviving lab. Once 332 is de-inventoried layoffs will follow and more work will be transferred to LANL. It could be expected that by 2014, or soon after, that LLNL would be down to 2K people, assuming that NIF provides some hope of working. LLNL has no control over this since the budget and congress will determine what happens.
Speaking of entitlement; we need to cut some now (say 10-15%) to avoid much higher cuts (maybe 20-40%) that would be force upon the recipients (baby boomer) of social security, Medicare, etc. if (when) we experience another severe recession several years from now. These things tend to repeat and possibly in greater severity.
We must realize that the USA is essentially broke, the cold war is behind us, and the work being conducted at LLNL is not on the hearts and minds of the people or congress. Do what you can, get what you can, and be prepared to leave. It is over and time is running out.
Oh, God! I think I'm starting to feel nauseous. You've just reminded me that as bad as things are at LANL, they are about to get much worse!
You might want to think about being prepared to lose several weeks (months?) of salary when it happens. Isn't this fun?
February 15, 2011 7:12 PM
All due respects, however, I have had at least 25 bosses in my career and Knapp is by far the most vindictive and hateful boss I have ever had. He's the guy that forced myself and about 20 others out of their weapon jobs. Most of us had +20 years experience.
February 16, 2011 4:05 PM
What were your performance ratings from your bosses before Knapp came in? Just askin'.
John Boehner increases chance of government shutdown
By JAKE SHERMAN | 2/17/11 11:54 AM EST Updated: 2/17/11 1:55 PM EST
House Speaker John Boehner Thursday ruled out the possibility of passing a short-term government funding measure at current funding levels, raising the prospect of a government shutdown.
Boehner (R-Ohio) said he is “not going to move any kind of short-term [spending bill] at current levels.”
When we say we’re going to cut spending, read my lips: we’re going to cut spending,” Boehner told reporters.
Boehner is drawing a firm line on cutting spending, even a showdown with the Senate won’t force him to pass a spending bill at current levels, which his party see as too high.
Government funding runs out on March 4. Congress is out next week.
A short-term extension at current levels would be a time-buying alternative to a full spending package, one that would likely find support in the Senate, and could pass the House with Democratic votes. The GOP does not think such a measure would garner enough support in the lower chamber.
Boehner’s stance is a warning shot for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) who has already said he doesn’t expect much support in his chamber for the House spending measure.
Reid and other Democratic leaders responded to Boehner’s announcement saying they were “terribly disappointed” in the speaker’s stance, accusing him of setting up a government shutdown.
“I am disappointed that Speaker Boehner doesn’t believe he has the votes to avoid a government shutdown, unless his members get their way on all of their demands,” Reid said in a statement. “It is unproductive to resort to threats of a shutdown without any negotiations.”
Getting a new bill signed into law won’t be simple. The Senate has shown no interest in the continuing resolution that would fund the government through the end of fiscal 2011 currently under debate in the House. Government funding runs out on March 4, an even tighter deadline than it appears because both chambers are out next week for the President’s Day recess.
That would likely give the Senate and the House five days to come to an agreement on how to keep the government operating.
“We’re hopeful that the Senate will take up the House-passed bill that comes out of here today, tonight, tomorrow morning — whenever it is — we hope that they will move it,” Boehner said.
That illustrates the GOP’s next problem. It is unclear to Capitol insiders when they will be able to move to a final vote on the spending measure. After two late-night sessions, the Appropriations Committee is trying to construct a unanimous consent agreement that would help expedite the process —but aides say they aren’t close to such an agreement.
House Republicans don’t want to stifle their open floor process, but are looking for a way to avoid what could become a weekend of work. Two ideas have been floated: bundling together debate on amendments, and limiting debate time on amendments from five minutes for every member on every amendment to 10 minutes total on an amendment.
On Thursday afternoon, Republicans seemed resigned to being in session through Friday.
On one hand, he is against government intervention in your private life; at the same time,
he wants to pass a bill to tell women they must bring a pregnancy to term (read anti-abortion bill).
How do you explain that?
He wants 200,000 government jobs to go away but would he be willing to take a 20% cut himself as a "government" employee?
I don't so!
Ideology wont solve nothing!
Plus, cuts in benefits, a pension in danger and a 2 year pay freeze to be followed by a likely 5 year pay freeze once the GOP takes over in 2012. Severance? Probably not gonna happen, there will be no money for it.
What a wonderful place the NNSA labs have become to maintain a career!
Ideology wont solve nothing!
February 17, 2011 7:42 PM
OK, you need to slow down a little, take a deep breath, and proofread. I have to believe the "wont solve nothing" part was a joke.
February 17, 2011 10:47 PM
Sorta like the teacher's unions: Prove your competence and value to the organization, or be gone. You may not realize it, but you are the last vestiges of US employees with pension plans and retiree health care. Virtually no other workers in America have this anymore, outside the public sector. In the near future, it will be considered a taxable benefit, or will be gone.
?????
How is this like teachers union?
The John "readmylips" Boehner. Oh, boo hoo.
Democrats decry the prospect of a government shut-down, and scream that it will be the Republicans' fault. As if they couldn't prevent it by compromising and reducing spending. Who cares? I will be happy if the government shuts down. I don't need them. And, I hope those that have put themselves in the position of needing the government find out how wrong they were to do that. And no, I don't care how needy or disabled you are.
February 19, 2011 10:52 PM
Karma Police, I think I've got the perfect candidate for you in this ugly fellow! Go to it.
February 20, 2011 1:59 PM
Guess what? There aren't any!! (Karma police). So your definition of "ugly" is just that and nothing more. Too many bleaters at the public tit. And guess what? I believe in debtors prison too. The people who thought that up weren't stupid. Just trying to stamp out antisocial behavior. If you are in debt to anyone, you are a drain on society.