From furloughs to hiring freezes, how did your agency deal with sequestration?

Budget

From furloughs to hiring freezes, how did your agency deal with sequestration?

In a new report provided to the House Budget Committee, the Government Accountability Office provides more details of just how agencies coped with the mandatory...

Jack Moore

March 11, 2014 12:17 pm

1 min read

This time last year, the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration went into effect, lopping billions from planned federal spending.

At the time, agencies were predicting dire consequences, including hiring freezes, travel and training cuts and employee furloughs.

In a new report provided to the House Budget Committee, the Government Accountability Office provides more details of just how agencies coped with the steep spending reductions.

Nearly every agency surveyed by GAO canceled or limited monetary performance awards for employees, reduced spending on both travel and training and curtailed hiring after the cuts went into effect.

A total of seven agencies furloughed employees, including the departments of Defense, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation and Treasury. The range of furlough days ranged from one day to seven days. Just one agency — the Justice Department — laid off employees through a reduction-in-force.

The chart below shows the effects of sequestration in 2013 on Cabinet-level agencies.

Agency	Canceled or limited awards	Reduced travel	Reduced training	Cut external hiring	Reduced overtime	Cut internal hiring Read more: Budget	Offered VERA/VSIPs	Furloughs	RIFs
USDA	●	●	●	● Want to stay up to date with the latest federal news and information from all your devices? Download the revamped Federal News Network app	●	●	●
Commerce	●	●	●	●	●	●
DoD	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Education	●	●	●	●	●
Energy	●	●	●	●	●		●
HHS	●	●	●	●		●	●
DHS	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
HUD	●	●	●	●	●	●		●
Interior	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Justice	●	●	●	●	●				●
Labor	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
State/USAID	●	●	●	●		●
Transportation	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Treasury	●	●	●	●	●	●		●