One less American in Paris
It's official: President Obama is serious about tightening the federal belt.
Well, maybe.
Among $17 billion in spending cuts he proposed today -- trimming next year's projected deficit by 1.2 percent -- is elimating the Department of Education's attache position in Paris, saving $632,000.
The position actually is education liaison to the U.S. mission to UNESCO.
(Laura Bush is still featured on the mission's education page.)
The cost includes $77,000 to rent living space for the attache, swamppolitics.com reports.
More about the $632,000 from unescoeducation blog: "That includes the following: one GS-15 salary, plus benefits; one Paris apartment, plus parking; travel and moving expenses; education costs for children of up to $60,000; and $170,000 for International Cooperative Administrative Support Services, an expenses-sharing mechanism used by agencies for overseas staff."
It sounds extravagant, but let's put it in perspective. The government spent half as much money on one photo-op flight over New York City.
The attache position doesn't mean much one way or the other, I suppose, but maybe eliminating the job has symbolic value. Can't say anymore that the feds aren't making sacrifices or laying people off.
Comments (4)
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It's obvious to the rest of us that the president isn't trying to "tighten the federal belt," given the massive deficit spending going on right now. $17 billion isn't much compared to all that, and that's a good thing. It's also obvious to the rest of us that eliminating an obscure post in Paris makes sense right now. It's apparently of dubious benefit and it's certainly not stimulative, except to the French economy. But for you the news is an opportunity to get all snarky. Ah well, good for you. I guess you'd be happier if the post weren't eliminated?
Posted on May 7, 2009 5:41 PM
I never would have known it existed.
I'd say they could eliminate lots of other fancy federal jobs with the same impact, but that also would be snarky.
And, just in case anyone thinks this is partisan snark, I'll state the obvious: George W. Bush never suggested eliminating the Paris office. Looks like it gave Laura an excuse for a junket:
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=36460&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Posted on May 7, 2009 5:49 PM
Obama's $17 billion proposed cut represents a roster of 121 budget cuts and equals about one-half of 1 percent of the $3.4 trillion budget Congress has approved for next year.
1 and 1/2% would be $51 billion in cuts.
But we should not eliminate any positions in France since we will soon be just like them, and we'll need someone with experience in how they do things there. You know the things that took them from a world power to a cowardly, defenseless, no growth, high taxed joke!
Posted on May 8, 2009 1:07 PM
"You know the things that took them from a world power to a cowardly, defenseless, no growth, high taxed joke!"
Let's see, we're becoming like France because we spend too much (half of discretionary spending is on defense). And France is defenseless because they don't spend enough on their military (though they are 4th in the world in defense spending). And they're a joke because they aren't experiencing growth (our GDP fell at a 6% annual rate the last two quarters). I think what took France from a world power is that with roughly 1% of the world's population, it was an anomaly that they were a world power to begin with. Republicans should rethink their scare tactics because the first thought that enters your head when you're in Europe isn't that you're in some dystopian nightmare.
Posted on May 9, 2009 3:11 PM