2/15/11: On February 11, the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Harold Rogers (KY), introduced legislation that would slash government funding for the remainder of FY ‘11 to $100 billion below the President’s original FY ‘11 budget request. The bill is designed to replace the current Continuing Resolution set to expire March 4, and is scheduled to be voted on by the House this week.

As currently written, the legislation would drastically reduce funding for various NTEU represented agencies far below the President’s budget proposal for the remainder of FY ‘11. Funding for the IRS would be slashed by more than $1.3 billion from the President’s FY ‘11 request, including reductions of $578 million for enforcement, $134 million for taxpayer services, and $251 million for operations support. HHS would see $9 billion less in funding than the President’s request, and EPA’s budget would be reduced by almost $3 billion. The SEC’s budget would be reduced by $188 million, while FDA would see a $220 million reduction in funding compared to the President’s proposal. And finally, NTEU-represented agencies at DHS including TSA and CBP would see reductions of $104 million and $15 million in budget funding respectively.

NTEU strongly opposes this misguided legislation which will jeopardize the ability of agencies to meet their mission and result in billions in foregone revenue. We will work with our supporters in the House to oppose this legislation and will support efforts to increase funding for federal agencies during consideration of the bill. We will also work with the Senate to highlight the importance of providing federal agencies with sufficient resources and the devastating impact such drastic funding cuts would have on them.