GateHouse: The public safety double whammy

Matthew T. Mangino

GateHouse News Service

October 2, 2013

 

The dreaded government shutdown is here. The sun rose, your lights are still on, and for most Americans—unless you work for the federal government — you still have a job. There is no question that a shutdown can be inconvenient and a hardship, but can it be dangerous?

 

The double whammy — sequestration and a government shutdown — will have an impact on public safety.

 

Chief Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio said the federal court system could function for about two weeks, using court imposed fees collected over time. “Beyond two weeks, those funds probably would be exhausted,” Oliver told the Akron Beacon Journal. “So if there’s any shutdown for a substantial period of time, it’s going to be devastating to the courts and, I’m sure, all of the governmental agencies.”

 

After those two weeks, if there is still no appropriation, the Judiciary will operate under terms of the Antideficiency Act, which allows "essential work" to continue during a lapse in appropriations. Agencies with essential employees include federal prisons, law enforcement and criminal courts.

Even before the shutdown, federal courts were feeling the crunch. Sequestration, the across-the-board government spending reductions, have cost the courts nearly $350 million this year.  The cuts have been called “devastating” and “painful.”

 

Clerks, probation and pretrial offices have lost as many as 1,000 staff. The staff that has been maintained have surrendered about 8,600 furlough days during 2013.

 

Initially, the government shut down will not result in cuts for any government employee whose work is essential to “protect life and property." For example: all emergency medical care, food-safety inspections, border patrol, emergency and disaster assistance, overseeing the banking system, operating the power grid, guarding federal property, investigating crime and resolving cases.

 

However, Atlanta's U.S Attorney and the special agent in charge of the FBI said that deep budget cuts are already diverting funds from investigating crime, and it's putting public safety at risk.

 

"When you have fewer people, when you have less money, when you don't have the resources to do the cases you used to do, there's going to be a public safety impact on the district," U.S. Attorney Sally Yates told Mark Winne of WSB-TV in Atlanta.

 

"A furlough is just a nice way of saying 'pay cut.'" Yates said. "We're doing everything we can to try to prioritize our cases and to do the most significant cases."

 

The FBI is the federal government’s investigative arm, responsible for everything from counter-terrorism to domestic crime.  The agency already has a hiring freeze, so agents who retire or otherwise leave the agency are not being replaced. As the prospect of furloughs loom over the agency Mark Giuliano, FBI agent-in-charge told Winne, "We’re talking about as many as 16 (furlough) days for every employee of the FBI nationwide."

 

Those who defend people in federal court are also feeling the pain. Federal public defenders will be forced to terminate up to half their employees and close branch offices if funding stays at the same level in the upcoming federal budget, not to mention a government shutdown. Michael Nachmanoff, a federal public defender from Virginia predicted, “The federal defender system will be devastated.”

 

Local law enforcement has also taken a pounding in the last two years. According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, federal funding for criminal justice assistance through the U.S. Department of Justice has dropped by an enormous 43 percent.

 

Forty-four percent of local law enforcement agencies reported a funding drop of at least one-third while 14 percent reported a cut of more than one-half.

 

When you have fewer people and less resources logic dictates that public safety will be impacted.

 

Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly and George and the former district attorney for Lawrence County, Pa. You can read his blog at www.mattmangino.com and follow him on Twitter at @MatthewTMangino.

 

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The shutdown begins, Antideficiency Act kicks in

Could be very expensive to restart the government

The government shutdown will be governed by a 19th century law that is, thankfully, little known and little used.

The Antideficiency Act is a collection of statutory and administrative provisions that forbid federal officials from entering into financial obligations for which they do not have funding, like paying the salaries of their employees or buying the things they need to run the government, according to The Atlantic.

It's also the law that wisely permits certain "essential" government functions -- like the military and the courts, for example -- to keep operating even in the absence of authorized legislative funding. The courts have about 10 days of available funding before devastating cuts are imposed.

The Act prohibits federal employees from

• making or authorizing an expenditure from, or creating or authorizing an obligation under, any appropriation or fund in excess of the amount available in the appropriation or fund unless authorized by law. 31 U.S.C. § 1341(a)(1)(A).
• involving the government in any obligation to pay money before funds have been appropriated for that purpose, unless otherwise allowed by law. 31 U.S.C. § 1341(a)(1)(B).
• accepting voluntary services for the United States, or employing personal services not authorized by law, except in cases of emergency involving the safety of human life or the protection of property. 31 U.S.C. § 1342.
• making obligations or expenditures in excess of an apportionment or reapportionment, or in excess of the amount permitted by agency regulations. 31 U.S.C. § 1517(a).

Federal employees who violate the Antideficiency Act are subject to two types of sanctions: administrative and penal. Employees may be subject to appropriate administrative discipline including, when circumstances warrant, suspension from duty without pay or removal from office. In addition, employees may also be subject to fines, imprisonment, or both.

"The irony is that it always costs money to restart them and they typically get their back pay for the days they don't work, the government employees, and they have to catch up on the work that's not done while they are on these involuntary furloughs," Harvard Law Professor Howell E. Jackson, a budget and regulatory expert told The Atlantic. "So it's a very expensive way to play politics over the fiscal crisis."

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