Through months of hand-wringing over automatic budget cuts facing the federal government, the Defense Department has insisted that most of its 800,000 civilian employees will feel the same pain if the department decides to furlough its workers.
But as the Pentagon approaches its planned date in early May for issuing notices to begin furloughs in June, it faces pressure from inside and outside the department to rethink its plans.
"It's the idea of shared sacrifice and shared pain, which doesn't necessarily translate to good policy," said Todd Harrison, senior fellow for defense budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments/.../