Monthly Archives: March, 2010

In another red-letter day for the world’s greatest deliberative body, Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., reportedly flipped the middle finger to a reporter who kept asking him about his blockage of a bill that, among other things, today resulted in the furlough of about 2,000 Transportation Department employees. According to ABC News’ Jonathan Karl: “Excuse me!  This is a Senators only elevator!” Bunning thundered.  I tried again to ask his reasons for blocking the bill, Bunning said he already explained his reasons last Thursday, when he said he wanted the $10 billion cost of the bill to be paid for, rather than…

If you’re one of the nearly 2,000 Transportation Department employees who was furloughed this morning, Federal Times would like to hear from you. How did you find out about the furlough? When did you first hear this was a possibility? How is it going to affect you? E-mail me or my colleague Gregg Carlstrom at slosey@federaltimes.com or gcarlstrom@federaltimes.com. We won’t publish your name if you’d prefer to remain anonymous.

Tune into News Channel 8’s Federal News Tonight this evening to catch an interview with yours truly. I’ll be speaking about the Pentagon’s plans to end the controversial National Security Personnel System and how some Defense Department employees could end up getting hurt in the process. Federal News Tonight is on at at 7:30 p.m. in the Washington area. My segment will air sometime between 7:40 and 7:55 p.m.

(Updated below) After years of a stagnant economy, furloughs are nothing new to private-sector workers — including newspaper reporters! — and even many state and local employees. But now they’re affecting the federal government. It’s not because of the economy, though. The Senate needed to pass legislation last week to extend federal highway and transit programs — and the legislation was blocked by Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., who said he objected to the bill because it wasn’t deficit-neutral. The legislation stalled. The result? The Transportation Department has to furlough nearly 2,000 employees, starting today, and ending… whenever the bill gets…

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