[House Document 110-79]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                     

110th Congress, 1st Session - - - - - - - - - - - - - House Document 110-79


 
          POTENTIAL FURLOUGHS WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

                               __________

                             COMMUNICATION

                                  from

            THE DEPUTY SECRETARY, THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

                              transmitting

THE DEPARTMENT'S REPORT ON POTENTIAL FURLOUGHS WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF 
THE ARMY, THE MARINE CORPS, AND THE COMBATANT COMMANDS, PURSUANT TO 10 
                             U.S.C. 1597(e)




    December 11, 2007.--Referred jointly to the Committees on Armed 
         Services and Appropriations, and ordered to be printed
                               Deputy Secretary of Defense,
                                  Washington, DC, December 7, 2007.
Hon. Nancy Pelosi,
Speaker, House of Representatives,
The Capitol, Washington, DC.
    Dear Madam Speaker: 10 U.S.C. 1597(e) provides that the 
Department of Defense ``. . . may not implement any involuntary 
reduction or furlough of civilian positions . . . until the 
expiration of the 45-day period beginning on the date on which 
the Secretary submits to Congress a report setting forth the 
reasons why such reduction or furloughs are required . . .''. 
In accordance with this statutory requirement, I am providing a 
report on potential furloughs within the Department of the 
Army, the Marine Corps, and the Combatant Commands.
    As you are aware, the FY 08 DoD Appropriations Act did not 
provide funds to the Department for the Global War on Terror 
(GWOT). In my November 8, 2007 letter to the Senate and House 
Appropriations Committee leadership, I emphasized that without 
this critical funding, the Department would have no choice but 
to deplete key appropriations accounts in order to sustain 
essential military operations around the world.
    Without GWOT funding, only operations and maintenance (O&M) 
funds in the base budget are available to cover war-related 
costs. O&M funds also cover salary costs for a large number of 
Army and Marine Corps civilian employees.
    The Army and Marine Corps currently estimate that the 
fiscal demand on O&M funds to cover both normal operating and 
GWOT costs will result in depletion of the Army's O&M funds by 
about mid-February and the Marine Corps O&M funds by about mid-
March 2008. As a result, Army civilian employees, who are paid 
from Army O&M accounts and Marine Corps civilian employees, 
paid from Marine Corps O&M accounts, will at those times be 
subject to furlough. Affected employees are located throughout 
the United States and overseas.
    The furlough will negatively affect our ability to execute 
base operations and training activities. More importantly, it 
will affect the critical support our civilian employees provide 
to our warfighters--support which is key to our current 
operations in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
    Accordingly, the Department will issue potential furlough 
information to about 100,000 affected civilian employees next 
week. Specific furlough notices will be issued in mid-January. 
The Department will also be notifying appropriate labor 
organizations.
    While these actions will be detrimental to the nation, 
there are no other viable alternatives without additional 
Congressional funding. Your support in providing these needed 
funds would be greatly appreciated.
                                                    Gordon England.

                                  
