After predicting as many as 14 furlough days and a loss of overtime for border agents, the Customs and Border Protection agency put those plans on hold on Monday, telling workers that those plans have been shelved because of a budget bill recently approved by the Congress.
That budget plan for the current fiscal year gave some wiggle room to the Customs and Border Patrol budget, as officials said they are now "re-evaluating previously planned furloughs" and an end to overtime for agents.
Here is the letter sent to employees on Monday:
Updated Information on FY 2013 Budget
To the men and women of CBP:
As you are aware, President Obama last week signed into law an appropriations bill that funded CBP for this fiscal year. I have been working closely with our budget office in analyzing the bill. Although the budget reductions imposed by sequestration are significant, the bill's provisions allow CBP to mitigate to some degree the impacts of the reduced budget on operations and on CBP's workforce.
In light of the new funding bill, we are re-evaluating previously planned furloughs and de-authorization of Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUO), and will postpone implementation of both changes pending that re-examination. We are doing everything we can to minimize these impacts on CBP employees and will keep you updated as we continue to assess the exact impact the legislation will have on our operations and on our workforce.
Please continue to proceed in a manner which ensures that we are able to carry out our national security mandate. Thank you for your understanding as we work through these issues and stressful times.
Thomas S. Winkowski
Deputy Commissioner of CBP,
Performing the duties of the Commissioner of CBP
The move by Customs and Border Patrol is one more example of a federal agency that had forecast furloughs; it was just six weeks ago that CPB told its unions that all 60,000 employees at the agency would be furloughed for up 14 days, and that overtime for border agents would be cut out as well.
One union local urged its members not to relax, saying bluntly:
"This is not over. We are like deathrow inmates who got a temporay stay of execution. It is a delay not a guarantee! We need to keep up the fight and keep the public and media involved and interested."
Customs and Border Patrol furloughs were to have started later this month under the original sequester plans, which have also changed in other areas under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security.
Other agencies have also backtracked on their sequester predictions since $85 billion in automatic cuts kicked in one month ago; among those making changes:
* The TSA now plans no furloughs
* The Bureau of Prisons has eliminated furlough plans
* The FBI does not plan furloughs this fiscal year
* Immigration officials have told Congress they do not plan furloughs
* The military last week cut its furlough plans to 14 days from 22 days for civilian defense workers
* The budget bill recently passed by the Congress also allowed the Agriculture Department to move around money to avoid furloughs for meat inspectors.
Look for this sequester fight to keep simmering on the Legislative Stove, with both parties trying hard to spin any developments in their favor; Republicans argue the Obama Administration has badly overblown estimates of what the cuts would do, while Democrats say the impacts will be severe nationwide.
Stay tuned.
