FBI agents, federal prosecutors, prison guards and other Justice Department crime fighters are being told they could be furloughed if Congress and the White House don't agree on a budget.
The Justice Department is notifying most of its 80,000 employees that they could be furloughed up to 22 days in the coming fiscal year if automatic spending cuts mandated by the Gramm-Rudman deficit-reduction law take effect Oct. 1.The Office of Management and Budget has ordered a 32.4 percent spending cut from the government's operating budget in the 1991 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, if lawmakers and the Bush administration fail to agree on other ways of reducing the budget deficit.
Officials at various federal law enforcement agencies said the furloughs could make operating extremely difficult.
Running the nation's federal prisons on a reduced staff would be "incredibly challenging - that's a euphemism," said Douglas Lansing, assistant director of the Bureau of Prisons. "We don't think we could do it."
The furloughs could affect all 9,800 FBI agents, including those assigned to investigate foreign spies, said FBI spokesman Carlos H. Fernandez. No decision has been made whether to furlough agents working on undercover investigations, he said.
"We will try to do our duty as best we can, but to say if won't affect operations would be a mistake," Fernandez said.
Furloughs at the U.S. Marshals Service "would have a serious effect, probably a drastic effect" on the agency's ability to chase fugitives, transport prisoners and seize assets from accused criminals, said spokesman Bill Dempsey.
"We would continue the vital life-or-death functions of providing security for the federal judges all over the country and protecting government witnesses," but the other activities would have to be curtailed, he said.
The furloughs of 3,800 federal prosecutors in 94 U.S. attorneys offices will have to be juggled to accommodate trial schedules, officials said.
Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, FBI Director William Sessions and other presidential appointees, such as assistant attorneys general, would not be affected.
The notices sent to employees this week raised the possibility of additional layoffs if Congress and the White House don't reach agreement. A memo sent to employees of the Justice Department's management division said the unit would have to lay off each employee 70 days during fiscal 1991 if the automatic spending cuts are not restored.