Furlough Worries Continue

From the minutes of a December 12, 2006 conference call of the Executive Committee of the National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel:

A press release from leading Democrats about continuing funding for a long-term CR [continuing resolution for funding of federal government operations] for the entire FY [fiscal year] 2007 was shared with the EC [executive committee] late yesterday. The details are trickling in and there is not a great deal of specifics available at this time. We will be working to come out as best as possible in the CR. NCSSMA will continue to make contacts in the House and Senate to seek an increased level of funding for SSA above the FY 06 level. ...

On the furlough issue, Rachel [Emmons, NCSSMA's lobbyist] thinks after looking closely at the language in the CR that the mechanism has been provided to prevent agencies from having to implement furloughs during the time from now through February 15 (expiration date of the current CR). If the entire year CR is enacted at the Senate-recommended level of funding it represents a $54 million cut from FY06. NCSSMA needs to be focused on impacting the CR number as positively as possible for SSA. Rachel says it is way too early in the process for us to know exactly where we stand. Rick [Warsinskey, NCSSMA president] believes that we still have a good possibility of having furloughs after February 15 if the full year funding is written so that adequate funding is not provided for SSA. He believes that is why we need to work on a strategy where we can focus on getting information to the appropriators. We will ask members to send in information about what is going on in their offices. We need to get this information in by mid-January. We will reach out to the organizations that worked with us on the Snowe-Conrad SSA funding letter as we continue to work on the FY07 appropriations and the FY08 budget as well.