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October 16, 2012
To Hell with the Law; Re-Election Is More Important
By W.A. Beatty
This is clearly a case of Obama placing himself above the
law, then sending us taxpayers the bill.
Congress passed, in 2011, the Budget Control Act (BCA),
which established the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (better known
as the Super Committee), whose mission was to reduce the deficit. As an incentive to the committee, a
"sequestration" process, or automatic funding cuts, will take effect
in January 2013 if the committee fails to reach agreement. The committee did not reach agreement, so
"sequestration" funding cuts will begin in January. The Defense Department is scheduled to have
its budget reduced by 7.5 percent, or about $1 trillion, causing layoffs and
plant closings.
So what? We've known
about these coming cuts since the Super Committee failed back in November 2011.
"Sequestration" has now become a major
problem. According to a memorandum from
acting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Jeffrey Zients, "the
budget sequestration clause in the law 'was never meant to be
implemented'."
Have you ever heard of the Workers Adjustment and Retraining
Notification (WARN) Act? It was passed
in 1988 but vetoed by Ronald Reagan -- but then the veto was overridden by the
Democrat-controlled Congress. The act
requires that companies expecting mass layoffs or plant closings inform their
employees 60 days in advance of the layoffs or closings. The WARN act provides for the collection of
back pay, attorney fees, and punitive damages of up to $500 per day.
Guess what "sequestrations" will do. And guess what act it will invoke. And guess whose presidential campaign will be
hurt by all the layoff and plant closing notifications 60 days before layoffs
occur. Hint: it's not Mitt Romney! Guess when the notifications are supposed to
go out. November first, five days before
the election.
What is President Barack Hussein "kill list" Obama
doing about WARN? He has asked defense
contract employers to ignore WARN -- that is, to break the law. Obama has asked defense contractors not to
send out layoff notices to their employees in anticipation of
"sequestration." This
memorandum, dated September 28, 2012, explains Obama's position. The last sentence in the opening paragraph
states, "... DOL explained that giving notice in these circumstances would
waste States' resources in undertaking employment assistance activities where
none are needed and create unnecessary anxiety and uncertainty for
workers." So Obama is trying to
cast his advocacy of law-breaking as "saving resources" and
"preventing anxiety." Ain't he
swell? The second paragraph of the
memorandum also provides some very interesting reading.
This is the first time in history that the White House has
asked companies (of any type) not to file layoff or plant closing notices as
required by WARN.
Without even bothering to ask Congress for approval, Obama
has committed to pay defense contractors' penalties and court costs from the
Pentagon budget. Costs could be as high
as $500 million. Let's see...first
Defense gets hit with "sequestration," then Obama commits to pay
fines and penalties if defense contractors don't follow the law. Obama has placed the Pentagon and defense
contractors in a catch 22, "creating additional economic uncertainty. They can break the law and keep the White
House happy, or follow the law and annoy their major customer."
Obama also will make Congress complicit in his
law-breaking. He did not even have the
courtesy to ask them how they felt about his lawlessness. But Obama may not have the authority to offer
to pay the penalties. And even if he
does, a new administration could simply refuse to pay them. So what this situation boils down to is that
penalty payments will be made if Obama is somehow re-elected. Further, some senators, such as John McCain
(R-AZ) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC), say that they will not allow government funds
to be spent on penalties.
The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would
avoid "sequestration." But
Obama has chosen to ignore it and, most significantly, has not offered an
alternative. I therefore must assume
that he thinks his lawlessness will save his re-election chances.
So, the old saying that Shakespeare used in Hamlet,
"Hoist With His Own Petard," is, ironically, quite appropriate here.
Dr. Beatty earned a Ph.D. in quantitative management and
statistics from Florida State University.
He was a (very conservative) professor of quantitative management
specializing in using statistics to assist/support decision-making. He has been a consultant to many small
businesses and is now retired. Dr. Beatty
is a veteran who served in the U.S. Army for 22 years. He blogs at rwno.limewebs.com.
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