Congress’ inability to agree on a budget deal last year, triggering $1.2 trillion in cuts in 2013, will devastate many of the federal agencies Capitol Hill relies on to slash spending.
The Congressional Budget Office and Government Accountability Office warned today that the cuts would leave the agencies with historically small staffs called upon more an more by lawmakers looking to secrets to eliminating federal funding. The GAO, for example, would see staffing at its lowest in its 75 years.
“It’s a concern to me,” said Comptroller General Gene Dodaro. At CBO, which has cut salaries, dumped garage guards and even eliminated newspaper deliveries to meet shrinking federal budgets, the across-the-board cuts scheduled unless Congress figures out a deal would “be very damaging to our organization,” said Director Douglas Elmendorf.
Both said that the likely 8 percent to 9 percent in ordered cuts under the so-called “sequester” would require firings. “We would have to push out people with a tremendous amount of expertise,” said Elmendorf.
Every year Congress calls on CBO to size up bills for the impact on the budget. And at GAO, ironically, their audits result in such massive savings that the agency jokes that it saves $81 for every $1 it spends.
