Following Recommendations of Deficit Commission Report: Obama Freezes Salaries of Most Federal Workers

President Obama decided to freeze the pay of most federal workers for the next two years, not including Congress, of course:

Bowing to growing budget concerns and months of Republican political pressure on federal pay and benefits, President Obama today announced he would stop pay increases for most of the two million people who work for the federal government.

The freeze applies to all Executive Branch workers -- including civilian employees of the Defense Department, but does not apply to military personnel, government contractors, postal workers, members of Congress, Congressional staffers, or federal court judges and workers.

"Getting this deficit under control is going to require some broad sacrifices and that sacrifice must be shared by the employees of the federal government," Obama said in a speech Monday afternoon explaining the decision. He added, "I did not reach this decision easily, this is not a line item on a federal ledger, these are people's lives."

While this is an important first step, this is not a particularly huge step towards solvency:

The decision will save the government about $2 billion for the remainder of fiscal year 2011 and $28 billion over the next five years, the White House said. The long-term savings come from lowering the government's base compensation over the next two years.

This has been well-received bu both sides of the political spectrum. Although, some are complaining that the military wasn't included in the freeze:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), whose district is home to thousands of federal workers, said he was pleased Obama instituted only a two-year freeze instead of the three years proposed by the Bipartisan Deficit Commission. But Obama also should have cut pay for some military personnel, Hoyer said in a statement.

"There has been parity between civilian and military pay raises for 22 of the past 28 years in which raises were authorized, and hundreds of thousands of federal civilian employees work alongside military employees in the Department of Defense and other agencies," Hoyer said, noting that the first American casualty in the Afghanistan conflict was a civilian CIA agent.

Hoyer is just posturing here. There isn't any good chance for a freeze on military wages, too, for hood reason. Those in the military don't make even close to the amount that those working in DC do.

Govahvanatah Pulled the Trigger: Lowers Most State Employees Down to Minimum Wage, Some Down to Nothing

Well, the Govahvanatah did it. He lowered most state employees to minimum wage and others down to zero. Of course, as I mentioned last time and Ed Morrissey reiterated, State Controller John Chiang will ignore the order from the governor:

The Schwarzenegger administration today ordered State Controller John Chiang to reduce state worker pay for July to the federal minimum allowed by law -- $7.25 an hour for most state workers.

The instructions from the Department of Personnel Administration exclude roughly 37,000 state workers in six bargaining units that recently came to tentative labor agreements with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Some employees, such as doctors and lawyers, would get no pay because federal exempts them from any minimum wage requirement. Managers, supervisors and others who don't get paid for working more than 40 hours per week would receive $455 per week until a budget deal got done.

This didn’t work the first time that he tried it, and it was written on the wall on the titantron in big, bold letters that the State Controller John Chiang was going to ignore the executive order. So, why do it? It looks like kabuki to me.

It’s Come to This: Schwarzenegger Threatens to Lower CA State Workers’ Wages to Minimum If State Budget Not Passed

Apparently, the Govahnatah is prepared to hit the nuclear button, if the Democratic-controlled California legislature fails to pass a budget this year:

After enduring more than a year of unpaid monthly furlough days, state workers could see their pay cut to minimum wage until Sacramento strikes a budget accord this summer, according to a memo from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration sent Wednesday.

This may end up being an empty threat, however, because the men that actually signs the checks for California’s state employees have gone on the record to saying that he will take that take it under advisement and refuse to follow that potential order. Still, this shows how dire the deficit situation is in California.

With Bankruptcy Knocking At Its Door California Might Close Welfare Programs Permanently

Things have become so bad for California financially that the liberally dominated state is actually considering http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1917387.html of one of its costly entitlement programs:

Could California become the first state in the nation to do away with welfare?

That doomsday scenario is on the table as lawmakers wrestle with a staggering $24.3 billion budget deficit.

County welfare directors are "in shock" at the very idea of getting rid of CalWORKs, which has been widely viewed as one of the most successful social programs in the state's history, said Bruce Wagstaff, director of the Department of Human Assistance in Sacramento.

This is shocking to believe that the "cradle to grave" Democrats would actually go for this. Perhaps, they have come to their senses and realized how bad their situation actually is.

Now, I don't believe that legitimate "hand up" programs should be totally disregarded, but the loop holes that allow people who can work take advantage of the programs. Not all but many use the welfare programs to take care of them without having to work on it. In my time in various "hand up" programs there were some that were just there for the free room and board. They were not into bettering their situations for good.

I know there are some out there that do use the programs as a stepping stone off of the streets as I did. I don't believe that they should be robbed of the chance to get help to live a better life.

Hopefully, they can find a way to keep programs that help people that are truly looking for a way off of the streets and welfare while closing the loopholes and programs that keep people dependent on the government for their housing and food without offering them a way out.