amidst a blizzard of Severe Stupid
After the devastating Moore EF-5 tornado NOAA finally succumbed to political (principally Rep. Frank Wolf) and public pressure to cancel its planned four-day furlough of employees to make up for sequester cuts.
So where’s the “mandated” funding cut gonna occur?
…the proposed cuts would drain the last 2013 funds for a promising U.S.-Taiwan COSMIC-2 satellite program.
Here’s how it works.
the data we have :: the data we coulda had
The March 1 sequester has already cut about $54 million from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R), a package which hovers over North America and provides a steady stream of weather monitoring. The fact that the international COSMIC-2 program could end up high-and-dry just underscores the borrow-from-Peter-to-pay-Paul mindset as agencies scramble to get through the last months of the fiscal year.
When ya borrow from Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the vote of Paul. …mostly.
The estimated 10-year cost is $420 million: Tiawan pays $210m, we [US] were supposta pay $210m [$21m/yr]. Actually, the Air Force pays half our costs [$10.5m/yr]. Tiawan has “major concerns” since NOAA has refused to say a word about it.
$10.5m/yr over 10 years to give US [not to mention the rest of the world; so I won't] the info to foresee gajillions of $$$$ of damage and forestall potential loss of life.
Swell.
All to prevent the unmitigated horror of a four-day furlough. Four [4]. Day. Furlough.