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Federal workers already feeling pain of sequester in Philly
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Federal workers already feeling pain of sequester in Philly
Workers at federal agencies' Philly locations gathered at a protest on Independence Mall this afternoon as part of a nationwide day of protests said they're already receiving furlough notices and planning for reduced government services as a result of the sequester, the budget cuts that came into effect March 1. From reduced housing subsidies to short-staffing of federal corrections facilities to the Liberty Bell and other national park sites closing early, they argue, the impacts in Philly could be signification.
Adam Duncan, who works with the National Park Service and is vice president of AFGE Local 2038, says forget about extended July 4 hours for the Liberty Bell. That will be closing at 5 p.m. daily thanks to the sequester, and eight other buildings could see hours cut back to a few days a week or even face closure. Duncan says chronic understaffing and furloughs have already affected the NPS; some interpreters are now forced to take off two months a year. That, he argued, will result in a negative economic impact for the whole region's business community if it reduces the Independence National Historical Park's 3.6 million annual visitors.
James Flynn of HUD says people there have already received furlough notices and that with $952 million cut from the Housing Choice voucher program will mean 125,000 families will lose this housing option and be put at risk of homelessness. Notices have also gone out at Philly's federal correction institutions, where Robert Klein warned that furloughs could be a perilous proposition. "We have some of the most dangerous criminals as well as pretrial," he said. Cuts are "not only making it unsafe for the staff but they're making it unsafe for the general public."
It's also making it impossible for agencies to run efficiently, according to Joe Ponisciak, a worker at the Social Security Administration in Philly. The administration lost 5,000 workers through attrition and could lose more, he sad. "We were understaffed to begin with, and now we're understaffed even more. ... We don't have the people to check the disability rolls. We're supposed to do that every three years and we don't have the staff to do that now. If you want efficient government, you need the people there to give you efficient government."
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