Mark Trahant: Budget sequester takes toll on Indian programs

Wednesday, February 20, 2013  

"The sequester is now nine days away.

So happens next Friday? The Pentagon may begin the furlough process this week. Reuters news agency said Congress will be notified that 800,000 employees will be placed on unpaid leave for up to 22 days before Sept. 30, 2013. (The law requires Congress be told 45 days before the furloughs, and individual employees be given 30 days notice.)

At Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, not only will there be budget cuts, but there is a plan surfacing to boost student fees by some 230 percent. Native American students are not required to pay tuition, but do pay student fees that total $215 per semester. Those fees would jump to $715 to boost Haskell’s budget.

Other federal Indian programs will start to see more detailed budget numbers after the sequester officially begins.

One rub in all of this is the time involved. All of the cuts required by the sequester have to occur before Sept. 30, making their impact worse."

Get the Story:
Federal budget sequestration is unappealing, unattractive, and now nine days away (Mark Trahant 2/20)

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