State Dept. reeling from budget cuts

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

The State Department is still reeling from deep cuts made by Senate and House appropriations panels to the Obama administration’s budget requests for next year, with some officials warning of national security risks.

Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state in its Bureau of Political Military Affairs, told a meeting last week of the Center for New American Security that the hefty cuts will compromise national security. He noted that the 2012 funding bill for State Department and foreign operations was cut 8 percent by the full Senate Appropriations Committee and a whopping 18 percent by the House Appropriations State and Foreign Operations subcommittee.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had sounded similar concern in March, telling the House Foreign Affairs Committee that threatened deep cuts would be “devastating” to her agency.

While overall funding for the department and foreign assistance approved by the panels actually increased from this year’s levels, that is only because they both approved the administration’s separate request for $8.7 billion to handle State’s additional expenses in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/state-dept-reeling-from-budget-cuts/2011/09/29/gIQAm87ODL_story.html

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

1. Welcome to OUR world.

:nopity:

[No Elephants]

7. I don't get to whine to Congress and the president when my budget gets decreased--or eliminated.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hydra]

2. *lmao*

So let me guess- we need to emergency shovel money to them and take it out of social programs?

[bbgrunt]

3. awww, maybe they'll have to fire their blackwater security teams.

[JDPriestly]

4. Did they cut funding to the CIA too?

[EFerrari]

5. Maybe she'll have to cut the funding to anti-democratic right wing nutcases

all around the world. My heart bleeds for them.

[Johnny Harpo]

6. Let Me Get This Straight...For Every Dollar...

the State Department was supposed to get.

Now they will only get 92 cents...Awww.

Maybe they should ask middle America how it feels to operate on a 100% loss, as a result of being laid off.

[No Elephants]

9. Nope. Her budget actually INCREASED.

"While overall funding for the department and foreign assistance approved by the panels actually increased from this year’s levels, that is only because they both approved the administration’s separate request for $8.7 billion to handle State’s additional expenses in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan."

So, if you're income goes down, just create a separate category for one of your largest expense categories, then yell to Congress about the "decrease" in the rest of your budget.

That would be like the DOD getting extra money for WOT, but putting that in a separate budget category, then complaining the rest of its budget had decreased.

Hard times call for greater accounting creativity! Let's hear it for fuzzy math!

After all, it's only taxpayer dollars. I think Parker Brothers just prints that up, don't they?

[Solly Mack]

10. So

a separate funding for IAP


hmmm

[MADem]

11. Congress is punishing State for ignoring DOMA. nt

[No Elephants]

12. How, by increasing state's overall budget in a severe recession?

[MADem]

13. State's responsibilities have increased. nt

[xxqqqzme]

14. "...assistant secretary

"...of state in its Bureau of Political Military Affairs.."



That says it all right there. WTF kind of job title is that? and what's its budget?