BudgetOffice implementing Obamacare avoids furloughs
Gary Cohen, the director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, said Wednesday that his office will not be furloughing its workers due to the federal budget cuts known as the sequester. His office is in charge of implementing most of President Obama’s healthcare law.
Gary Cohen, the director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, said Wednesday that his office will not be furloughing its workers due to the federal budget cuts known as the sequester. His office is in charge of implementing most of President Obama’s healthcare law.
Republicans have criticized the Obama and administration for making the sequester a political issue by targeting agencies such as the FAA and programs such as the White House tours to make the sequester even more inconvenient.
The fact that ObamaCare officials have not been furloughed shows that the cuts are a political actions, Representative Greg Harper (R-Mississippi) told theHill.
“We’re talking about at least a 15 percent furlough of current air-traffic controllers, resulting in delays and perhaps safety concerns, but yet this has been a selective political item by the administration,” Harper added.
Federal agencies have been forced to furlough their workers, cutting their hours and pay. The sequestration has hit programs such as Meals on Wheels, and the furloughs have been imposed at the Federal Aviation Administration, Customs and Border Protection, and even the White House budget office.
Cohen said the implementation office is still hurting as a result of the sequester, because it is under a hiring freeze.
“We have been working very hard to avoid the necessity for furloughs,” Cohen told the Hill. “We are under a hiring freeze, so I can’t hire, I can’t replace people who leave, which is a serious issue for me in terms of trying to run a program.”
Harper is not sympathetic, saying that a hiring freeze is nothing compared to cutting the pay of existing employees.
“Are you telling me, then, that this administration is furloughing air traffic controllers vital to public safety in this country, and yet you’re not furloughing anybody in your agency?” Harper asked during a hearing of the Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee.
“Well, in effect we are, because we can’t replace people who leave,” Cohen replied.
