FBI facing furloughs under sequester and didn't have money for gas for its own vehicles

We were facing furloughs at the FBI. We didn't have money for gas for FBI cars", said Mulkulski.

We were facing furloughs at the FBI. We didn’t have money for gas for FBI cars”, said Mukulski.

On December 16, 2013 Senator Barbara Mikulski asked for and was granted permission to address the United States Senate regarding the recent bipartisan budget agreement reached by Senator Murray and Rep. Ryan.

Then she also dropped a proverbial “bomb shell” and noted problems within the Federal Bureau of Investigation with regard to sequester that threatened the agency with such things as furloughs and budget cuts.

” The bipartisan agreement also, as I said, prevents harm to the middle class. What America is looking for, though, is not only numbers and programs and so on, they want us to get our act together. They want us to really do our job, and do it in a way that is sensible and civil. I believe that is what was done in that budget committee. They want us to work together across the aisle and across the dome. This bipartisan agreement shows what can be done when we do meet in the middle to make progress for the middle class and for those people who are neither right or left but want to take the middle of the road.”

“This compromise is not perfect. Compromises never are. For me, some of the pay-fors were not exactly what I was happy about. For example, they require new Federal employees to pay more for their retirement and working-age military retirees to receive smaller COLAs. I would have preferred an agreement that closed tax loopholes or canceled some of those out-of-date farm subsidies left over from the 1930s”, she continued.

“However, by avoiding the sequester, we also will be able to avoid furloughs. If you talk to the civilian employees at Defense, and you talk to Federal employees in the domestic agencies about this whole idea of furloughs and sequester, some of them had to have a double furlough, such as at the FBI. We were facing furloughs in the FBI. We did not have gas for the FBI cars. That is not right”, said Senator Mikulski (source: Congressional Record http://thomas.loc.gov ).

Senator Mikulski serves as Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.