...Sequestration impacts workers and middle-class families
(From Page 1)
Doug Cooper, assistant director of
Mercy Corp NW, said some of its cap-
ital for lending to small businesses
comes from the Small Business Ad-
ministration. Half of those loans are to
new start-up companies, a segment that
commercial banks essentially don’t
deal with. “As of today, any new capital
for lending is on hold,” he said.
Bob Marshall, an organizer for
United Food and Commercial Workers
Local 555, summed it up best: “I turned
64 in March, and I’m tired of hearing
about cuts to the working people. I just
can’t take it any more. Everything is
cutting this and cutting that. We’ve
been cutting for 35 to 40 years. Enough
is enough. I’m tired of corporations pri-
vatizing the profits and socializing the
losses.”
Bonamici and Schrader sympa-
thized with panelists and the audience.
“I don’t think people expected these
cuts would ever take place, but here we
are,” Bonamici said.
“It’s a horrible comment on the
United States government, particularly
this Congress, that this has come to
pass,” Schrader added.
Bonamici said the sequestration’s
across-the-board cuts “do nothing
about income disparity,” noting that
Congress should look at cutting subsi-
dies and closing tax loopholes for oil
and gas companies, big farmers, and
IRS PROBLEMS?
• Haven’t filed for ... years?
• Lost records?
• Liens - Levies - Garnishments?
• Negotiate settlements.
• Prepare offer in Compromise.
Call Nancy D. Anderson
Enrolled Agent/LTC-1807
NPTI Fellow/America’s Tax Expert
www.nancydanderson.com
503-244-2577
PAGE 4
agriculture. She wants policies that will
create jobs, not cut them. “These poli-
cies for sequestration go in the opposite
direction.”
“Do you know what the Republican
alternatives are to the sequester?”
Schrader asked. “Doubling down on
the domestic cuts. To build up the de-
fense budget.”
Schrader said some members of
Congress want to continue funding
civilian contractors and military proj-
ects that even the top military brass
want to eliminate. “They can’t even
give us a number (of how many con-
tract workers are on the payroll). The
DOD budget is unauditable.
The lawmakers said there is a bill in
the U.S. House to repeal sequestration
— but not the votes to pass it.
OSHA freezing
hiring, no furloughs
under sequestration
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The fed-
eral Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) will freeze
bonuses and hiring as part of its efforts
to reprogram funds under sequestra-
tion, GovExec reports.
Under that reprograming, the Labor
Department agency projects it will not
need to furlough employees, according
to the report.
Citing an internal agency memo,
Kellie Lunney writes the Department
of Labor and the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget (OMB) approved
OSHA’s request to reprogram funds.
Both the department and OMB in-
structed the agency to act as if it would
operate under its reprogramming plan,
which Congress holds final approval
over.
OSHA will eliminate non-essential
employee travel and non-mission crit-
ical contracts.
SEQUESTER:
IMPACTS
ON OREGON
• Teachers and schools: Oregon
will lose approximately $10.2 million in
funding for primary and secondary edu-
cation, putting around 140 teacher and
aide jobs at risk. In addition, about
13,000 fewer students would be served,
and approximately 40 fewer schools
would receive funding.
• Education for children with dis-
abilities: Oregon will lose approxi-
mately $6.4 million in funds for about
80 teachers, aides, and staff who help
children with disabilities.
• Work-study jobs: Around 240
fewer low income students in Oregon
would receive aid to help them finance
the costs of college, and around 280
fewer students will get work-study jobs
that help them pay for college.
• Head Start: Head Start and Early
Head Start services would be eliminated
for approximately 600 children in Ore-
gon, reducing access to critical early ed-
ucation.
• Protections for clean air and
clean water: Oregon would lose about
$1,882,000 in environmental funding to
ensure clean water and air quality, as
well as prevent pollution from pesti-
cides and hazardous waste. In addition,
Oregon could lose another $1,052,000
in grants for fish and wildlife protection.
• Military readiness: In Oregon,
approximately 3,000 civilian Depart-
ment of Defense employees would be
furloughed, reducing gross pay by
around $16.5 million in total.
• Army: Base operation funding
would be cut by about $1.6 million in
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Oregon.
• Law Enforcement and Public
Safety Funds for Crime Prevention
and Prosecution: Oregon will lose
about $155,000 in Justice Assistance
Grants that support law enforcement,
prosecution and courts, crime preven-
tion and education, corrections and
community corrections, drug treatment
and enforcement, and crime victim and
witness initiatives.
• Job search assistance to help
those in Oregon find employment
and training: Oregon will lose about
$470,000 in funding for job search as-
sistance, referral, and placement, mean-
ing around 16,320 fewer people will get
the help and skills they need to find em-
ployment.
• Child care: Up to 300 disadvan-
taged and vulnerable children could lose
access to child care, which is also es-
sential for working parents to hold
down a job.
• Vaccines for children: In Oregon
around 1,670 fewer children will re-
ceive vaccines for diseases such as
measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus,
whooping cough, influenza, and Hepa-
titis B due to reduced funding for vacci-
nations of about $114,000.
• Public health: Oregon will lose
approximately $366,000 in funds to
help upgrade its ability to respond to
public health threats including infec-
tious diseases, natural disasters, and bi-
ological, chemical, nuclear, and radio-
logical events. In addition, Oregon will
lose about $890,000 in grants to help
prevent and treat substance abuse, re-
sulting in around 3,800 fewer admis-
sions to substance abuse programs. And
the Oregon Health Authority will lose
about $113,000, resulting in around
2,800 fewer HIV tests.
• Stop violence against women
program: Oregon could lose up to
$81,000 in funds that provide services
to victims of domestic violence, result-
ing in up to 300 fewer victims being
served.
• Nutrition assistance for seniors:
Oregon would lose approximately
$690,000 in funds that provide meals
for seniors.“
State ombudsman can
assist injured workers
SALEM — The Ombudsman
for Injured Workers is a state office
that serves as an independent ad-
vocate for injured workers by help-
ing them understand their rights
and responsibilities, investigating
complaints, and assisting to resolve
complaints. The ombudsman’s
staff give straight answers, at no
charge, about worker rights and re-
sponsibilities; time loss and med-
ical benefits; returning to work;
claim closure; and litigation and
settlement processes.
If you need help regarding your
workers’ compensation claim, call
toll-free at 800-927-1271, or 503-
378-3351, or by email at oiw.ques-
tions@state.or.us. Their web site
is at www.oregon. gov/DCBS/OIW.
The ombudsman is Jennifer
Flood.
APRIL 19, 2013