Washington, D.C. - Congressman J. Randy Forbes (VA-04) announced today that he has introduced a resolution expressing that up to $100 million in taxpayer dollars to fund President Obama's impending trip to Africa with his family, would be better used to compensate the civil servants placed on administrative furloughs.
"While I have long supported the use of Presidential overseas visits for diplomatic purposes, I am disappointed with President Obama's recent decision to spend as much as $100 million, according to the Washington Post, on a trip to Africa with his family. With thousands of families facing furloughs across our nation and with no sequestration solutions in sight, a trip of this cost, at this time, is not only symbolically reckless but shows a lack of focus on cutting spending and solving sequestration."
See the full text of the resolution below:
113th Congress, 1st Session – H. RES___
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the funds made available for the cost of the President's trip to Africa instead be used to compensate those who have been placed on an administrative furlough as a result of sequestration.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. Forbes submitted the following resolution, which was referred to the committee on June 25, 2013
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the funds made available for the cost of the President's trip to Africa instead be used to compensate those who have been placed on an administrative furlough as a result of sequestration.
Whereas, as a result of administrative furloughs, civil servants across the country have had their regular salaries reduced;
Whereas the President and the First Lady are scheduled to travel to Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania from June 26 through July 3, 2013;
Whereas, when White House personnel are on official travel, certain personal expenses, including per diem (food and lodging), car rentals, and other incidentals, are paid by the Government; these expenses are paid by the State Department for foreign travel;
Whereas most of the costs involve operational costs of the aircraft, and include fuel, maintenance, engineering support, and per diem expenses for the crew;
Whereas, in 2012, the United States Air Force indicated that the cost per hour for the President's Boeing 747 (which is designated ''VC-25'' by the Air Force) is $179,750;
Whereas President Obama's trip to Africa is estimated to cost $60,000,000 to $100,000,000;
Whereas, in September of 1999, the Government Accountability Office estimated that the estimated incremental costs of President Clinton's trips to Africa was at least $42,800,000;
Whereas the President signed the Budget Control Act (Public Law 112–25), which called for sequestration, on August 2, 2011;
Whereas sequestration took effect on March 1, 2013, and will cut $984,000,000,000 over the nine-year period of 2013 through 2021;
Whereas, in 2013, there will be $85,000,000,000 in discretionary spending cuts, which will equal between 5 percent and 13 percent of each agency's budget, depending on the Federal agency; and
Whereas, in order to compensate for these budgetary cuts, some Federal agencies have instituted administrative furloughs designed to absorb reduced funding: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the funds made available for the cost of the President's trip to Africa instead be used to compensate those who have been placed on an administrative furlough as a result of sequestration.
Army Master Sergeant found that out the hard way when he tried to celebrate his August promotion by serving Chick-fil-A. The party, which happened to coincide with last summer's Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, was a private event -- paid for out of the soldier's own pocket. Still, his commanding officers seemed to take issue with the invitations, which read, "In honor of my promotion and in honor of the Defense of Marriage Act, I'm serving Chick-fil-A sandwiches at my promotion party." Of course, the DOMA reference was a hat tip to Chick-fil-A owner Dan Cathy, who became the center of a national firestorm when he refused to back down from the biblical definition of marriage.
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