Forest Service to Ohio: Give us back the money

There was somethin’ funny about this but I didn’t quite get it until I read this analogy here

Suppose your employer announced a 5-percent reduction in income and, because of that, a 5-percent reduction in pay for all employees.

Would you expect him to demand that you return 5 percent of the pay you’ve already received for the year?

Probably not.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has yet to decide his response to the Forest Service demand for retroactive cuts.

But that’s the scenario facing the state of Ohio.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, the Budget Control Act of 2011, also known as the sequester, cut the budgets of three programs: the Secure Rural Schools program, the 25 Percent Fund and the Grasslands program.

But a bunch of these states voted for this Administration.. if this is how you treat your friends..??

A great opportunity to tick off governors…

Ohio wasn’t the only state told to return funds. Forty other state governors received similar letters. New Mexico Watchdog discovered that state’s amount was nearly $600,000.

The National Governors Association sent a letter to Tidwell challenging the legality of the demand.

“Other than general references to the March 1, 2013, sequestration…,” the letter stated, “… the March 19 letters provide no specific legal citation to support this demand to return obligated funds.”

Despite the “Forest Service” title on this, I wonder where the decision was really made. Forest Service folks don’t have the culture for generally ticking partners off for the heck of it…

2 thoughts on “Forest Service to Ohio: Give us back the money”

  1. My opinion of the Sequester process is that it is highly politicized. The politicians are trying to make the cuts in the most visible areas such as White House tours and Blue Angel fly overs. I was recently in SE Ohio where the National Forests lands are, and the area is not exactly prospering. I’m sure the NF counties in Ohio could make good use of the 25% funds.

    Reply
    • Yes, well, that’s what I found odd about this.. if the reason is punishing the states that didn’t vote for you..but, say New Mexico is a traditionally D state that could definitely use the money…

      It seems like there is a line between “Washington Monumenting” and people realizing that they can’t trust you because you are not listening to what folks are asking for in terms of austerity, and all of us who have worked for agencies (especially ones who spend the majority of the bucks in the summer) know the bucks could be found in less painful and possible more productive ways, if they looked.

      Reply

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