Pentagon Says 200,000 Workers Could Receive Pink Slips for Christmas

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Washington Post

By Stephen Barr

Federal employees who work for the Army may get layoff notices before Christmas if Congress and the White House do not reach an accord on funding for the Iraq war, the Pentagon said yesterday.

The warning, posted near the top of the Defense Department's Web site, was the latest in a series from Pentagon officials in recent weeks.

About 100,000 federal employees and an additional 100,000 contract workers are at risk of being sent home without pay in February and March if the Army and Marine Corps run short of money and have to reduce operations at their bases, according to the Pentagon.

Under federal rules, the department must give 60 days' advance notice of layoffs to employees -- which, in this case, would make for a less-than-glad tiding for the holidays.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/04/AR2007120402028.html?sub=AR

[babylonsister]

1. Blackmail. nt

[emilyg]

2. exactly.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

8. First word that sprang to mind as well. n/t

[cliss]

22. Exactly.

My answer: Let 'em.
Go ahead.
And then let's see what happens next, after they single handedly DESTROY their very own armed forces.

Kinda tough to wage wars all over the globe when you dismantle your military.:smoke:

[hootinholler]

29. I think it's technically extortion but I agree with the sentiment.n/t

[Catch22Dem]

3. When asked to comment, the president said...

"Sheeeeit, that's how I roll, yo."

Talk about not giving a fuck about ANYBODY!

[villager]

4. and of course, we can't cut any weapons systems/profits first

because what would Halliburton, GE, Raytheon, et al, do without the public dole, if they had to actually compete in an, um, "free market."

I mean an actual one.

[MadMaddie]

19. Don't forget the billionssssss in tax breaks the Oil companies

and other big business are getting...

[Uben]

5. Looks like the generals......

....may have to get their own coffee.

[rodeodance]

6. this will scare the hell out of the dems.

[angstlessk]

7. are they in fact saying we have 200,000 employees whose ONLY connection to the

government (pentagon)is Iraq??? WHO ARE THEY AND WHAT THE FUCK DO THEY DO???

[HCE SuiGeneris]

10. ...

:spank:

No fair asking rational questions!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

17. 200,000 is probably the right number of Americans in Iraq.

Soldiers= 150,000
Blackwater= 35,000
Sundry= 15,000

They ain't dumpin' the soldiers.

[hack89]

31. No - read the article

they are saying that since Congress has not approved supplemental funds for Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has been shifting funds from the regular defense budget to fight the war. The regular budget is what pays the salaries for these workers. Without the supplemental budget, there is no money left to cover salaries.

[ORDagnabbit]

9. no workers at pentagon no war? I like it.

isnt the us government (which includes our bloated war machine) the biggest employer in the world?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

18. $532,000,000,000.00. ain't what it used to be.

:cry:

[MrScorpio]

39. I used to work there - From Reagan through to Clinton

I can tell you right now, that they're not happy campers

The Pentagon always has problems with Republicans

[HCE SuiGeneris]

11. Perhaps we can investigate the missing trillions of $ now?

:think:

[razors edge]

12. Paging Dov Zackheim,

Pick up white courtesy phone please.

http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2005/01/17203.php

[OHdem10]

13. Tactic to get the Dems to move on Money. Regan used to

do this sort of thing.

[eppur_se_muova]

14. Their jobs will be covered by the troops that make it back home.

Right out of the Ronald Reagan playbook. Just watch and see if it doesn't happen.

[Owl]

15. Good.

[fed-up]

16. Good-let's spend that money on health care, education, Katrina etc

[defendandprotect]

20. ...and they'll probably replace them with Blackwater/private employees !!

[boricua79]

21. NIce Christmas gift there...

but then again, it's the Pentagon. Unless you're a pro-military type of guy (i'm not), I don't expect anything good from this institution. If they're not sending your kids to war, they're not funding their veterans benefits when they come back.

This government and military treats its soldiers like crap...and yet the American people keep sending their kids over to them. Why, why, why?

[EFerrari]

23. I have no problem with downsizing the Pentagram.

[nealmhughes]

24. If I'm not mistaken, these are the guys that cut the grass, perform the maintenance on blds, etc. on

the army bases, not the soldiers at all. I recall last year or so one colonel whining because he hadn't the people to cut the lawn at the post there. Boo hoo, ever heard of "general duties?" When I was in the Navy every time you were stuck between duty stations the odds were good that you got to paint an office/mow lawns for a week or so waiting for a ship to get to port or a class to start.

[here_is_to_hope]

25. Let them.

[annabanana]

26. Gee.. bring a few troops home and PRESTO!, problem solved.

They are holding our boys and girls hostage.

[ClintonTyree]

27. Fantastic!

I think a little belt tightening is past due for that monetary black hole called, "The Pentagon". Welcome to the REAL world, war mongers. It's about time someone sent a wakeup call to the old boys in the Pentagon who've had carte blanch for decades. Fat and happy all these years, they're not accustomed to hearing the word, NO!

When we've reduced the Pentagon to the size where we can "drown it in a bathtub" (to borrow a phrase from some right-wingnut) then we'll have the proper sized defense department.

[lostnfound]

28. Most of them will see a silver lining.

They'll be spared the embarassment of working under this administration after 7 long years.
The Bushies will probably start with the "D" voter rolls to identify which ones to layoff.
And I bet they would have some stories to tell.

[lunatica]

30. If only they were serious

I can assure anyone that the people who will lose their jobs will be the foundational support who administrate the day to day nuts and bolts of running the Pentagon. The invisible people. I work in the Administration of a state university and if thousands of us were laid off the place would grind down into a slogging quivering quagmire. Behemoth government bureaucracies are layered so thickly with decades and even centuries of rules and internal policies that it takes dozens of people to do the most mundane thing, like pay bills. Everything needs to be done in multiplicate, checked and double checked, signed and signed off on and initialled, researched, reviewed, approved, vouchered, dispatched and always 'through the proper channels'. People like Rumsfeld sit around and make more policy which means another layer of rules, regulations, sign-offs and just plain bullying down the ranks. The new leaner, meaner military is run by one of the largest slow moving tangle of choking bureaucratic tape on the planet.

It would be nice to have our tax dollars go somewhere where they aren't thrown into the largest money pit on the planet. The Pentagon is a Black Hole that requires much money in order to stay in existence.

[pleah]

32. BooHoo

Now they will have to go out and get a real job!

[melm00se]

38. so being

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE TECHNICIAN
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST
MEDICAL OFFICER (EMERGENCY MEDICINE)
PHARMACIST
AEROSPACE ENGINEER
SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAM COUNSELOR
AIR CONDITIONING EQUIPMENT MECHANIC WORKER
FIREFIGHTER
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH SPECIALIST
POLICE OFFICER
ELECTRONICS TECHNICIAN
WELDING WORKER
SECRETARY
WASTE WATER PLANT OPERATOR
isn't a real job?

would suck to be them then I guess...good paying jobs too but too bad they work for the DOD.

[Hugin]

33. They don't have to give the 60 day warning under the new pay system...

There ARE NO federal rules for them.

[JBoy]

34. In completely unrelated news

Thousands more soldiers will receive stop-loss notices for Christmas.

[dysfunctional press]

35. why don't they start with the troops in iraq?

give'em a pink slip and send them home...

that's one round of christmas lay-offs that people wouldn't be pissed about.

[tinymontgomery]

36. Repubs like smaller goverment

so they shouldn't mind getting rid of 2 or 300 thousand.

[xxqqqzme]

37. I am on a BoD for an after-school program.

Back in June, when California failed to pass a budget, we had board members get loans against their houses to keep the program going - payroll, rent, food for the kids, insurance, liability & health - until the budget was passed. Might I suggest * & criminal cabal do the same - blackwater & halliburton should be able to pony up a few billion between them; darth should be worth a few bucks as well as rummy & kindasleazy. Be creative - the government will repay you.