Federal furloughs come to a subdued end

WASHINGTON Call it no- furlough Friday: The Internal Revenue Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development were all open last Friday, despite previous plans to close.

Thus the “summer of furloughs” comes to an anticlimactic end, as many federal agencies that had planned to shut down in a cost- saving move have begun to cancel furlough days.

The IRS originally planned five furlough days, but canceled one on July 22 and has postponed today’s. HUD canceled two of seven furlough days, including today. The EPA last week reduced its furlough time by eight hours, nullifying the mandatory furlough day before the Labor Day weekend. At least five other smaller agencies that announced furloughs in the spring canceled one or more of them them in the summer.

So was it a case of agencies crying wolf?

“There’s some exaggeration that always happens in budgeting,” said Paul Posner, a professor of public administration at George Mason University, who formerly directed federal budget analysis for the Government Accountability Office. “However, lets face it, you’re taking $ 85 billion out of the system.”

Posner said agencies were handcuffed in planning for the budget cuts by the high- stakes political battle between congressional Republicans, who insisted on keeping the budget levels enacted in 2011, and the White House, which wanted to restore some funding through targeted tax hikes. When the smoke cleared, furloughs were the easiest and quickest way to make substantial cuts.

In April, congressional action spared threatened furloughs for some employees, like border patrols, air traffic controllers and food inspectors.

Posner said the avoidance of furloughs could “come home to roost” in future budget years. If agencies save money by deferring maintenance or freezing essential hiring, there could be hidden costs.

Like the initial furloughs, the reduction in furlough days was an agency- by- agency decision. IRS acting Commissioner Danny Werfel said the elimination of $ 86 million in staff bonuses freed up money. At the EPA, Administrator Gina McCarthy credited “the savings achieved through a number of tough funding decisions.” And at HUD, two furlough days were eliminated this month after the American Federation of Government Employees agreed to drop its labor grievance over a planned cost- saving reorganization of the department.

By virtue of its size and the number of employees — and the outsized cuts to the civilian workforce in order to protect uniformed servicemembers — the Defense Department has taken the biggest furlough hit. But even there, the impact was dulled after the department found $ 1.5 billion in cost savings. The department originally planned for 22 furlough days for its 650,000 civilian employees, then reduced that number to 14, then to 11, and then finally to six.