Federal agencies bracing for cuts after ‘fiscal cliff’ deal



The eleventh-hour agreement to avoid a “fiscal cliff” of higher taxes put off the major cuts known as a sequester until March 1, when another showdown is expected over the federal debt limit and how much to reduce the size of government.


Congress and the White House agreed to find $24 billion to pay for the delay, divided between spending cuts and a tax change that allows Americans holding traditional retirement plans to convert more of them to Roth IRAs, a process that requires tax payments up front.

The remaining $12 billion in cuts to domestic and defense agencies will not take effect until at least March 27, when the stopgap budget funding the government expires. The first $4 billion in cuts must come by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, and the remaining $8 billion in fiscal 2014, which will start Oct. 1.

The cuts will be rolled into budget deliberations on Capitol Hill, and no one knows what agencies and programs they will affect. Out of a discretionary spending budget of $1.04 trillion, $12 billion is relatively small. But it’s not a rounding error.

“There will be a few select cuts that will be painful,” said Patrick Lester, fiscal policy director at the Center for Effective Philanthropy (formerly OMB Watch). “We won’t know for months what those cuts are, which makes them easy to do.”

William R. Dougan, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, said $12 billion “spread across the government doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but it depends on how it’s spread out.”

Even if each agency took a hit, some “will still be looking at furloughs and even [reductions in force] as a possible solution,” he said. Those are some of the near-certain actions many agencies have said they would take if they had to make the across-the-board cuts Congress imposed in 2011 to force itself to reckon with the federal deficit.

On Wednesday, government and union leaders said that threat, just two months away, is making them nervous.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Congress has “prevented the worst possible outcome by delaying sequestration for two months.”

But he warned that the “the specter of sequestration” threatens national security.

“We need to have stability in our future budgets,” Panetta said in a statement. “We need to have the resources to effectively execute our strategy, defend the nation, and meet our commitments to troops and their families after more than a decade of war.”

Several officials said they are still sorting out what the two-month delay means.

“We are working hard with [the Office of Management and Budget] to understand the impact, but we’re just not there yet,” said Army Lt. Col. Elizabeth Robbins, a Defense Department spokeswoman.

Defense consultant Jim McAleese said the deal to raise taxes on families with income above $450,000 and individuals earning more than $400,000 will bring in so much less revenue than the $250,000 threshold President Obama proposed that steep defense cuts are inevitable.

Instead of the $10 billion in cuts a year over 10 years that the Defense Department could have expected to see under Obama’s most recent deficit reduction plan, McAleese said the reductions could be more in the range of $15 billion to $20 billion a year over 10 years.

“People were talking before about defense cuts of $10 billion per year, but the sheer size of the disagreement is going to bring about an immediate, aggressive reaction that will impact the final outcome of the spending cuts,” he said.

Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said of the $12 billion in cuts, “I would hope agencies could find these savings without impacts on front-line employees and without impacts on services to the public. We have more questions than answers right now.”

Steve Vogel contributed to this report.

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NYP students to run on-campus restaurant






SINGAPORE: Students of Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) will get to run a restaurant on campus from April, as part of their final-year studies.

The exposure will give them an idea of what they can expect in the food and beverage industry.

The students, who are now honing their skills in the kitchen of the polytechnic, will take on bigger challenges when the restaurant is up and running.

They will be in charge of every aspect of the business - from designing the menu to managing the earnings.

The restaurant, which can seat 120, will serve fusion cuisine created by the students and their lecturers.

"I hope they treat the new training restaurant like it's their first job. I'll need to train them but they need to learn speed, they need to learn efficiency, they need to learn style. Those three things," said senior lecturer Andy Gibb.

"If they can treat it as their first job without getting any money in their back pockets, when they finish training in the restaurant, they will go a very very long way."

- CNA/xq



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Mamata, Manmohan exchange pleasantries in first meeting after FDI standoff

KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shared the stage at the centenary session of the 100th Science Congress at Salt Lake stadium on Thursday morning. This was their first meeting a little over three months after the Trinamool Congress dumped the UPA over the FDI in multi brand retail.


The chief minister went and sat beside Singh and the two were smiling as they spoke in between speeches at the congress where nearly 15,000 scientists are expected to participate. The Trinamool Congress' six ministers submitted their resignations to the Prime Minister on September 21 signaling the end of a strained relationship between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress.


The body language from both sides was positive. Also present on the dais was President Pranab Mukherjee. He inaugurated the five-day meet where several foreign delegates, Nobel laureates and Indian scientists were present.


The Prime Minister unveiled the country's science, technology and innovation policy that aims to put India among the top five science powerhouses in the world by 2020.


Singh welcomed a debate on genetically modified foods, nuclear energy and space exploration. He said, "The transformation of agriculture must be the top priority of our public policies, including science and technology policies. We must partner not only with established leaders in science and technology but with emerging innovation powerhouses in our region."


Singh said science should be used to meet the needs of the underprivileged.
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Pictures: Errant Shell Oil Rig Runs Aground Off Alaska, Prompts Massive Response

Photograph courtesy Jonathan Klingenberg, U.S. Coast Guard

Waves lash at the sides of the Shell* drilling rig Kulluk, which ran aground off the rocky southern coast of Alaska on New Year's Eve in a violent storm.

The rig, seen above Tuesday afternoon, was "stable," with no signs of spilled oil products, authorities said. But continued high winds and savage seas hampered efforts to secure the vessel and the 150,000 gallons (568,000 liters) of diesel fuel and lubricants on board. The Kulluk came to rest just east of Sitkalidak Island (map), an uninhabited but ecologically and culturally rich site north of Ocean Bay, after a four-day odyssey, during which it broke free of its tow ships and its 18-member crew had to be rescued by helicopter.

The U.S. Coast Guard, state, local, and industry officials have joined in an effort involving nearly 600 people to gain control of the rig, one of two that Shell used for its landmark Arctic oil-drilling effort last summer. "This must be considered once of the largest marine-response efforts conducted in Alaska in many years," said Steve Russell, of Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation.

The 266-foot (81-meter) rig now is beached off one of the larger islands in the Kodiak archipelago, a land of forest, glaciers, and streams about 300 miles (482 kilometers) south of Anchorage. The American Land Conservancy says that Sitkalidak Island's highly irregular coastline traps abundant food sources upwelling from the central Gulf of Alaska, attracting large numbers of seabirds and marine mammals. The largest flock of common murres ever recorded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was in Sitkalidak Strait, which separates the island from Kodiak. Sitkalidak also has 16 wild salmon rivers and archaeological sites tied to the Alutiiq native peoples dating back more than 7,000 years.

Shell incident commander Susan Childs said Monday night that the company's wildlife management team had started to assess the potential impact of a spill, and would be dispatched to the site when the weather permitted. She said the Kulluk's fuel tanks were in the center of the vessel, encased in heavy steel. "The Kulluk is a pretty sturdy vessel," she said. " It just remains to be seen how long it's on the shoreline and how long the weather is severe."

Marianne Lavelle

*Shell is sponsor of National Geographic's Great Energy Challenge initiative. National Geographic maintains editorial autonomy.

Published January 2, 2013

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Obama Signs 'Fiscal Cliff' Bill With Autopen


Jan 3, 2013 12:53am







ap obama fiscal cliff press Conference thg 130101 wblog Obama Signs Fiscal Cliff Bill With Autopen

Charles Dharapak/AP Photo


HONOLULU, Hawaii — President Obama has signed the “fiscal cliff” legislation into law via autopen from Hawaii, where he is vacationing with his family.


The bill to avert the “fiscal cliff” arrived at the White House late this afternoon and it was immediately processed, according to a senior White House official. A copy was delivered to the president in Hawaii for review. He then directed the bill to be signed by autopen back in Washington, D.C.


The Bush administration deemed in 2005 that the use of the autopen is constitutional, although President George W. Bush never used the mechanical device to replicate his signature on a bill.


The office of legal counsel found at the time that Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution allows the president to use the autopen to sign legislation, stating “the President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill to sign it.”


Obama has used the autopen twice in the past to sign legislation, both times while he was overseas.


Use of the autopen has been controversial.  Conservative groups alleged last summer that Obama used an autopen to sign condolence letters to the families of Navy SEALs killed in a Chinook crash in Afghanistan — a charge the White House disputed flatly as false.


In 2004, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was criticized for using an autopen to sign condolence letters to the families of fallen troops.


And in 1992 then-Vice President Dan Quayle even got into some hot water over his use of the autopen on official correspondence during an appearance on “This Week with David Brinkley.”


Obama, who arrived back in Hawaii early Wednesday morning to continue his family vacation, spent the afternoon golfing with friends at the Marine Corps base at Kaneohe Bay.


Obama is slated to remain in Hawaii through Saturday.


ABC News’ Jonathan Karl contributed to this report



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US, Europe 'biggest risks' for global economy in 2013, says Nobel laureate






FRANKFURT: Debt problems in both the United States and Europe represent the biggest risks for the global economy in 2013, Nobel prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz wrote in a newspaper article on Wednesday.

"In the outlook for 2013, the biggest risks for the global economy are in the US and in Europe," Stiglitz wrote in a guest column for the business daily Handelsblatt.

But "the real risk for the global economy lies in Europe," he warned.

"Spain and Greece are in an economic depression with no hope for a recovery. The eurozone's 'fiscal pact' is no solution, and the European Central Bank's bond purchase is a temporary palliative, at best," Stiglitz wrote.

And the ECB must not impose further conditions for financial aid to countries, he continued.

"Otherwise, the medicine will lead to a deterioration in the patient's condition," Stiglitz argued.

- AFP/de



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Will implement SC judgement on Lokayukta soon: Gujarat govt

GANDHINAGAR: With the Supreme Court today upholding governor Kamla Beniwal's decision to appoint Justice (retd) R A Mehta as Gujarat Lokayukta, the Narendra Modi government said it would soon implement the apex court judgement.

"We will soon implement the Supreme Court judgement on Lokayukta," state law minister Bhupindersinh Chudasama said.

"The Supreme Court has accepted Gujarat government's contention that governor has to act as per the advice of the council of ministers," he added.

A detailed reaction on the issue could only be given after reading the judgement, Chudasama said.

In a setback to the Gujarat government, the Supreme Court upheld Mehta's appointment as the state Lokayukta, saying it was done in consultation with the Chief Justice of Gujarat HC.

The governor was bound to act under advice of council of ministers, but in this case the appointment was not wrong since it was done in consultation with the high court Chief Justice, the apex court said.

Governor Kamla Beniwal had on August 25 last year appointed Justice Mehta to the post of Lokayukta, which had been lying vacant for the last eight years.

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Space Pictures This Week: Ice “Broccoli,” Solar Storm









































































































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Obama Hails 'Cliff' Deal, Warns of Next Fiscal Fight













Minutes after the House of Representatives approved a bipartisan Senate deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" and preserve Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans making less than $400,000 per year, President Obama praised party leaders and wasted little time turning to the next fiscal fight.


"This is one step in the broader effort to strengthen our economy for everybody," Obama said.


Obama lamented that earlier attempts at a much larger fiscal deal that would have cut spending and dealt with entitlement reforms failed. He said he hoped future debates would be done with "a little less drama, a little less brinksmanship, and not scare folks quite as much."


But Obama drew a line in the sand on the debt ceiling, which is set to be reached by March.


"While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether they should pay the bills for what they've racked up," Obama said. "We can't not pay bills that we've already incurred."


An hour after his remarks, Obama boarded Air Force One to return to his planned Hawaiian holiday vacation, reuniting with his family, who have been vacationing there since just before Christmas.






AP Photo/Charles Dharapak















'Fiscal Cliff' Negotiations: Congress Reaches Agreement Watch Video





House Republicans agreed to the up-or-down vote Tuesday evening, despite earlier talk of trying to amend the Senate bill with more spending cuts before taking a vote. The bill delays for two months tough decisions about automatic spending cuts that were set to kick in Wednesday.


A majority of the Republicans in the GOP-majority House voted against the fiscal cliff deal. About twice as many Democrats voted in favor of the deal compared to Republicans. One hundred fifty-one Republicans joined 16 Democrats to vote against the deal, while 172 Democrats carried the vote along with 85 Republicans.


The Senate passed the same bill by an 89-8 vote in the wee hours of New Year's Day. If House Republicans had tweaked the legislation, there would have been no clear path for its return to the Senate before a new Congress is sworn in Thursday.


The vote split Republican leaders in the House. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, voted yes, and so did the GOP's 2012 vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.


But House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., the No. 2 Republican in the House, voted no. It was his opposition that had made passage of the bill seem unlikely earlier in the day.


The deal does little to address the nation's long-term debt woes and does not entirely solve the problem of the "fiscal cliff."


Indeed, the last-minute compromise -- far short from a so-called grand bargain on deficit reduction -- sets up a new showdown on the same spending cuts in two months amplified by a brewing fight on how to raise the debt ceiling beyond $16.4 trillion. That new fiscal battle has the potential to eclipse the "fiscal cliff" in short order.


"Now the focus turns to spending," said Boehner in a statement after the vote. "The American people re-elected a Republican majority in the House, and we will use it in 2013 to hold the president accountable for the 'balanced' approach he promised, meaning significant spending cuts and reforms to the entitlement programs that are driving our country deeper and deeper into debt."


Republicans hope that allowing the fiscal cliff compromise, which raised taxes without an equal amount of spending cuts, will settle the issue of tax rates for the coming debates on spending.






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Senate approves deal to avoid worst of ‘fiscal cliff’



The agreement primarily targets taxpayers who earn more than $450,000 per year, raising their rates for wages and investment profits. At the same time, the deal would protect more than 100 million households earning less than $250,000 a year from income tax increases scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.


The deal came together barely three hours before the midnight deadline, after negotiators cleared two final hurdles involving the estate tax and automatic spending cuts set to affect the Pentagon and other federal agencies this week.

Republicans gave in on the spending cuts, known as sequestration, by agreeing to a two-month delay in budget reductions that would be paid for in part with new tax revenue, a condition they had resisted. And the White House made a major concession on the estate tax, agreeing to terms that would permit estates worth as much as $15 million to escape taxation by the end of the decade, Democrats said.

As Biden rushed to the Capitol to brief Senate Democrats on the deal, Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) laid plans for a vote shortly after midnight, when taxes were set to rise for virtually every American.

“I think we’ll get a very good vote tonight,” a beaming Biden said as he emerged from the meeting with Democrats after nearly two hours. “But happy new year and I’ll see you all maybe tomorrow.”

About three hours later, just before 2 a.m., the gavel finally fell on a sweeping bipartisan vote designed to send a signal to the more unstable House that passage was imperative. Just three Democrats and five Republicans opposed the measure. The moment served as a rare bipartisan coda to what has been one of the most rancorous, partisan Congresses in recent history, as the 11 retiring senators received hugs and kisses from senators, bidding what is likely a final farewell as colleagues.

Now the measure heads to the House, where Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) pledged to bring it to a vote in the coming days.

Senior aides predicted the measure would pass the House with bipartisan support. But Boehner’s decision to delay the vote meant the nation would tumble over the cliff at least briefly.

In addition to dealing with the fiscal crisis, the measure would extend federal farm policies through September, averting an estimated doubling of milk prices. The deal also nixed a set pay raise for members of Congress.

During a midday event at the White House, Obama praised the emerging agreement even though it would raise only about $600 billion over the next decade by White House estimates — far less than the $1.6 trillion the president had initially sought to extract from the nation’s richest households.

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