SEQUESTER: THE SKY DID NOT FALL IN AS PREDICTED BY ‘CHICKEN LITTLE’ OBAMA

During the sequester only one federal government job was eliminated instead of ‘hundreds-of-thousands’ as predicted by the president

White House spokesman Jay Carney said 750,000 jobs would be lost due to the budget sequester, but of all the government agencies, only the U.S. Parole Commission eliminated any jobs, and it eliminated only one single job.

REVEALED: JUST ONE FEDERAL JOB WAS LOST IN BUDGET SEQUENCE AFTER OBAMA PRECICTED IT WOULD MAKE ‘HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS’ UNEMPLOYED
President Obama predicted that 'hundreds of thousands' would be let go and White House press secretary Jay Carney put the number at 750,000. But the total when the dust settled was 1

By David Martosko

Mail Online
May 9, 2014

Amid national hand-wringing about the 2013 'sequester' – a series of deep budget cuts triggered when Republicans and Democrats couldn't reach a budget deal – the federal government eliminated just one single job.

A little-seen footnote in a Government Accountability Office report confirmed that only the U.S. Parole Commission in the Department of Justice 'implemented a reduction in force of one employee to achieve partial savings required by sequestration in fiscal year 2013.'

Seven cabinet-level departments temporarily furloughed workers last year, but all were awarded back pay when they returned to work. Fifteen more made other cuts instead of parting with workers for even a few weeks. Other Obama administration agencies offered early retirement options and paid bonuses to encourage workers to go.

President Barack Obama claimed on February 19, 2013 that the looming sequester cuts would 'add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls.'

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney predicted three days later as tempers flared on Capitol Hill that 'three quarters of a million people will lose their jobs if the sequester takes effect and stays in effect.'

'Those are real-world consequences,' Carney warned. 'These are real people.'

House Speaker John Boehner warned In a February 2013 Wall Street Journal op-ed that '[a] week from now, a dramatic new federal policy is set to go into effect that threatens U.S. national security, thousands of jobs and more.'

And Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid claimed last July 31 on the Senate floor that budget sequestration 'already has cut 1.6 million jobs.'

Reid's statement earned a 'false' rating from the Tampa Bay Times' Politifact website.

Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn marveled in a statement that 'sequestration resulted in only one layoff.'

'While that’s good news for federal employees and other workers,' he said, 'it is devastating to the credibility of Washington politicians and administration officials who spent months – and millions of dollars – engaging in a coordinated multi-agency cabinet-level public relations campaign to scare the American people.'

Even the private sector was fooled.

A Goldman Sachs report issued last September predicted that the sequester would eliminate 'federal employment of around 100k over the next few quarters.'

Sen. Coburn wrote to White House budget director Sylvia Burwell on Wednesday, demanding to see any list she has of 'all departments or agencies that have implemented a reduction in force due to sequestration.'

The issue could be front-and-center next week when the Senate Finance Committee meets to decide whether to recommend Burwell's confirmation as the next Health and Human Services secretary.

Overall, the sequester brought real savings in the form of canceled or limited bonuses, travel and training cuts, and limits on overtime.

No one seems to know the identity of the one federal employee who got a pink-slip because of sequestration.

'Who is this guy? Who is this one guy – this poor guy!' exclaimed Daily Caller editor-in-chief Tucker Carlson on Fox News.

'Deep in the Office of Redundant Services in the Department of Pointlessness,' he mused, 'everybody else gets to keep his job. This has got to affect his self-esteem.'