The Sequester Strikes its First Victims!

[piercehawkeye45]

I think it was a bad idea for Democrats to cry out that the sequester would lead to the apocalypse. That obviously is not true but the sequester cuts will further the slow disintegration of our foundation, which, in my opinion, is even more dangerous for our country. A few job losses here and there won't produce an emotional reaction but they do add up and can be very damaging in the long run...


I personally know a few people who lost research positions (healthcare related) because of the cuts..

[glatt]

I have a friend who is a captain in the Coast Guard, and he had a planned trip to London for meetings there. He's in charge of the branch of the Coast Guard that oversees port security, including international supply chain stuff. I was talking briefly with him last night at a concert our kids were putting on, and he said the London trip had been cancelled due to the sequester. I suppose he can make phone calls and send emails instead of doing those meetings in London, but I think there is something lost when government leaders don't talk to their colleagues face to face once in awhile.

I could give you half a dozen similar stories from various friends I have here in Arlington. Mostly they are making cuts like this that aren't super painful but that do slightly harm the mission of these government agencies.

[Griff]

So the Head Start kids we provide therapies for are losing 2 weeks of class. We are still contractually/legally obligated to get them their services for the full time period. That means my department is going to take the financial hit to bus the children in, provide supervision, put together a classroom for kids with that on their IEP's, and whatever else pops up. I found this out after I had to send my aides home this week when their kids didn't show. We used to just put them on overhead for the day, but the squeeze is on, but at least no rich white guy had a flight delay.

[IamSam]

Those reports on the cuts in the Meals on Wheels for homebound seniors are true - at least here. I went straight to the horse's mouth and called up the Director of the Montezuma County program. She told me the cuts were starting to hurt quite a few of our elderly folk here who depend on it. Everyone was rescued at the last moment (for now) when a compassionate businessman with the money to donate, gave our County meals on wheels program $10,000, so they could keep going another 6 months. Nice to know that there are human beings out there who don't share Congress's attitude of "Let the eat airline meals."

[Griff]

I'm less annoyed by the sequester than by the attempts to opt out certain powerful constituencies. McCain whining about cuts to our absurdly large military etc... At this point with the way we do budgets a meat ax is probably preferable to targeted cuts.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Griff

snip--

We used to just put them on overhead for the day, but the squeeze is on, but at least no rich white guy had a flight delay.

THIS grinds my gears.