Editor,
With the sequestration about to hit America, the people who we elected to sit on Capitol Hill should share in the pain they are about to cause millions of Americans. With Congressional office budgets of about $574 million annually, there is a bit of saving to be gained just from them. If you add in their salaries and benefits, the cost climbs to an estimated $6 billion a year. It seems to me that the American people are not getting a very good return on our investment there. There should be a 20 percent meat axe chop straight off the top of the money that we, The American people, pay out to the few who sit up there.
Since the politicians can’t seem to stop acting like kids, blaming one another for spilling Kool-Aid on the carpet, there are going to be people who can’t pay their bills on time, feed their families or have spending money to take their kids on vacation during the summer. If civilian furloughs hit, there is going to be a 20 percent reduction in affected workers pay checks which in turn will be 20 percent less spent in the communities on which they live and shop.
The media is reporting large numbers of federal civilians who are going to be affected if the sequester hits on March 1. Everyone thinks that it will only last until October 1. What they are failing to realize is that the $86 billion that is going to be cut this year is only the start. It is $86 billion a year for the next 10 years, not just 2013. That means that the cuts that are going to smack down the workers and communities alike, are going to recur every year until 2023. Sounds fun to me. It is time for Congress to put on their “big boy pants” and fix the problem. The time for pouting and finger pointing is over. Earn the money that we give to them.
Robert Trickey
Ogden
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