The Pentagon could begin furloughing civilian employees one day a week starting in mid-April if sequestration takes effect on its new March 1 deadline, POLITICO has learned.
The Defense Department plans to submit a request to Congress in mid-February for approval to furlough civilian employees, according to multiple sources inside the Pentagon with knowledge of the preparations. If sequestration indeed happened and Congress approved the DOD’s request, notification letters would go out to the employees affected.
Civilian employees would take one day of unpaid leave per week until the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, according to the sources. Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter confirmed to reporters Friday that one-day-a-week furloughs would continue for the remainder of the budget year. The furloughs would save the Pentagon $5 billion — a small piece of the 2013 cuts from sequestration, Carter’s senior adviser James Swartout said/.../
Earlier this month, budget expert Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments told reporters that DOD would be forced to implement rotating monthly furloughs for “virtually all” of its 791,000 civilian workers in the event of sequestration.