As the federal government today readies its first day of its fiscal Armageddon, some are still suggesting ways to dodge the worst parts, meaning hurting local workers at Pearl Harbor.
The federal sequestration is set to start today. It puts into place budget cuts of up to 10 percent in various federal agency budgets.
The Defense Department may fear this the most, because the military is all about planning ahead.
If you can’t spend the money, you can’t buy the stuff to stock the ship to send it overseas. And if you can’t spend the money to buy the parts to fix the plane, you can’t fly the planes. If you can’t sail the ships or fly the planes, you have to cancel the jobs — and that is what the DOD has been doing.
Here in Hawaii, it means that civilian workers at Pearl Harbor have been told to start planning on furloughs.
Hawaii’s U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa is one of three members of Congress who are proposing that even now there is a better way.
The Defense Department is not really out of money, Hanabusa and others contend — it is just out of the money it is legally allowed to get its hands on.
But there are other accounts with money that could be tapped.
Not surprisingly, there are Pentagon accounts with money that are either over what was budgeted or in excess.
This is sort of like having a household budget that has a separate account for college savings with the plan to send junior to Harvard. If he decides on West Oahu, you suddenly have a lot of extra cash that, even if you had dedicated that money for college, could now pay for fixing the roof.
Hanabusa said that the federal government is now operating under a "continuing resolution" that locks 2013 spending at 2012 levels, including money for development and construc- tion of weapons systems and research initiatives, what are referred to as ‘investment accounts,’ many of which have excess funding."
Hanabusa’s bill gives the DOD permission to take excess money out of those accounts and put it into accounts that can be used for "civilian staff salaries and permitted contracts."
At a House Armed Services Committee hearing, Hanabusa reported that military officials said if they could transfer funds, "they will be able to avoid furloughs of civilian defense workers including those at Pearl Harbor."
The actual details of what goes where are numbingly complex, but Hanabusa said if Congress can not avert sequestration, her bill at least would halt the Pearl Harbor furloughs.
Her thinking is not really outside the mainstream. The Washington Post’s Walter Pincus, one of the nation’s best "follow the money" investigative reporters, notes in a column from last week that not only is the Pentagon asking for the wiggle room, the Congressional Research Service says it is a doable plan.
"Congress could soften the impact of the $46 billion in military spending cuts required over the next seven months if lawmakers agree on legislation that expands the amount of funds that can be transferred among Defense accounts," Pincus wrote.
After years as state Senate president during Hawaii’s recession, Hanabusa had a hand in advising how to shuffle money around to avoid crashing the state budget.
A little flexibility in the federal budget at a time when Washington is consumed by fiscal cliffs and budget standoffs sounds like a smart idea.
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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
