A Fight for Funding
House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee at a FY 2013 budget hearing. Credit: USDAgov/Flickr
Last fall, the Congressional Supercommittee failed to reach a final deficit reduction plan. If Congress doesn’t come up with a solution again this year; government programs are going to see some devastating budget hits. It can be hard to see how federal budget cuts impact our daily lives, but to give you an idea, this series of cuts could result in reduced functions within our agriculture industry, national parks and even weather service. That’s what happens during a budget sequestration — a series of across-the-board cuts to federal programs. And if this happens, the U.S. Forest Service’s budget could be reduced by 10 percent starting as soon as January 2013!
It’s doubtful that Congress will address the budget deficit situation until after the November election. But if they wait that long, there isn’t much time left in 2012 for them to figure out a budget plan. If Congress fails to agree on a federal budget-reduction plan in the next few months, we may face a budget sequestration starting in 2013. After receiving bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, President Obama signed off on the Sequestration Transparency Act late last month, formalizing a $1.2 trillion budget cut to domestic and defense programs over the next 10 years. This act will go into effect in 2013 if Congress is unable to agree on another way to address the federal deficit and would consist of automatic cuts for federal funding across all agencies and programs. Only a few programs would be spared from these cuts, such as Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
So what kind of impact would these budget cuts have on our national forest and land-management agencies? The cuts would begin on January 2, 2013, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) could be asked to cut up to $2.2 billion in discretionary program spending for FY 2013. That’s a 10 percent cut in the USDA budget! Falling under the USDA umbrella, a 10 percent cut for the U.S. Forest Service budget would equate to $486 million. This would have a significant impact on all of the agency’s work, including wildfire management, recreational trail maintenance, conservation projects, invasive species management, wildlife habitat restoration and the jobs associated with this work.
The Sequestration Transparency Act requires the agencies to supply the administration with a detailed report of the proposed budget cuts by the first week of September, so we should know what’s on the chopping block in the next month. Our land-management agencies are already operating under tight budgets, so I really hope I don’t have to see what happens after another slash to their budgets.
Welcome to the consequences of DECADES of unbridaled spending on ludicrous welfare, warfare, and ever-expanding federal regulation. The excrement is going to hit the fan and every Department will be splattered liberally. This is a good thing as the taxpayers have been soaked for far too long to fund scores of redundant, questionable, and often unconstitutional federal initiatives.
Clearcut – The Executive Branch is charged with implementing the laws set for by the legislative branch. Obviously you feel that there are “redundant, questionabl and often unconstitutional federal initiatives” but you should look no further than Congress as the source of the problem as they set forth the relevant laws. NEPA? That came from Congress. Wilderness Act? Congress again. National Forest Management Act? Yep, again those folks in the capitol (typically staffed by 22-24 year old aides who know little to nothing of what they are doing, trust me, even though their elected bosses need to rely on them to shoulder the work of the legislative branch).
Let’s step back – We engaged in two wars without paying for them, gave corporations and the wealthy Americans yet more tax breaks that they didn’t need, and got our seniors who didn’t prepare themselves for retirement addicted to life on what has been promised as a medicare and social security program which is sacrosanct. And now, the GOP wants to tax-cut our way out of the situation again?
Given that Boehner et al want to continue forward with such ludicrous plans as a missile defense program for the east coast, and $200 million cold war fighters and $10billion submarines, the only wiggle room in the eyes of many conservatives is the “easy” domestic programs, such as the Forest Service. They don’t realize the impact of their intentions. Not only does the Forest Service provide many of the same functions as the Park Service, but they provide it at vastly cheaper expense to the general public. When no litigated to death, they also provide valuable commodities for the American economy, particularly in the west.
And, if you’ve been watching the news anytime in the last 4 months, the Forest Service suppresses tens of millions of acres in wildfires each year. Congress RAIDED the FLAME act which was intended to provide funding for some of the most severe wildfires, and then funded the Forest Service at a “moderate” fire season budget ($900+ million), which was exceeded with more than a month to go in the remaining fiscal year (projected cost is up to $1.6 billion). So, the agency essentially had to unfund many of its other programs to become the nation’s fire departmnent yet again.
However, apparently in the eyes of the TEA party legislators who can’t even formulate a budget, the Forest Service is still overfunded and is part of the “waste, fraud, and abuse” that is rampant in the Executive Branch (hint of sarcasm). As a local fire fighter/official in the west, this sickens me, as someone who had to look into the faces of these exhausted firefighters, some of whom lost comrades this year to the ultimate sacrifice.
We could have fully funded the Forest Service to protect a DOZEN western states and their communities at the same cost as TWO OR THREE F-35 fighters this year (which cost $135 million each). This, added to their modest fire budget, would have paid for the battle against wildfire that raged this summer (and is still raging).
We need to realize very soon that if we don’t take care of our communities through protection from wildfire through preventative action (thinning, fuels reduction, etc) or suppression (firefighting) there won’t be much for our $10 billion submarines to defend. We are talking about a modest funding increase at the expense of what won’t be a blip on the map of national security for our country.
BurningMad,
Me too, you forgot about the 3000 Abrams Tanks sitting in the desert in AZ because we don`t need them.
Yeah, I`m with you,just plain crazy. Do you think anyone in Congress took a management class?
Thanks
Dave R6