Those who had been paying attention to the world of politics know that this entire sequestration drama is nothing more than political theater. We’re told that sequestration will lead to massive layoffs and furloughs even though the “cuts” will increase the federal budget by $110 billion. A recently leaked document from the Agriculture Department shows just how much of a game sequestration really is:
A leaked email from an Agriculture Department field officer adds fuel to claims President Obama’s political strategy is to make the billions in recent federal budget cuts as painful as possible to win the public opinion battle against Republicans.
The email, circulated around Capitol Hill, was sent Monday by Charles Brown, a director at the agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service office in Raleigh, N.C. He appears to tell his regional team about a response to his recent question on the amount of latitude he has in making cuts.
According to the partially redacted email, the response came from the Agriculture Department’s budget office and in part states: “However you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be.”
In other words the doomsday scenarios described by Obama are to be carried out even if departments have no need to do so. I think this leaked document does a marvelous job of demonstrating how politics is nothing more than Kabuki.