The Reign of Pain Rebounds on the White House.

The sequester continues, and the White House and it's media allies continue to push the story that the sequestration is the worst thing to happen since "The Great Dying" at the Permian-Triassic boundary, which killed 75% of the species on land and upwards of 96% of the marine species. Smoke signals are going up that suggest are that the story is hurting the administration far more than they hoped, and they're looking for ways to make it seem like they're suffering too:

With spring vacations safely past, Obama decides to dock his own salary 5%!

President Obama will return 5 percent of his salary, retroactive to March 1, in a move intended to symbolize solidarity with federal workers being furloughed as part of the sequester, a White House official said Wednesday.  The pay cut will remain in place for the remainder of the fiscal year, and is intended to mirror the across-the-board cuts to
federal budgets that occurred as part of the $85 billion sequester. The president's salary is $400,000 per year -- a 5 percent pay cut over 10 months represents just under $17,000.

But what if Sasha or Malia need braces?  Oh, I got it; just borrow it from John Effing Kerry, he's independently wealthy! ...Oh wait; it looks like Kerry and multimillionaire wife Terese Heinz Kerry are taking that pay cut too..

John Kerry, who is worth an estimated $198.65 million, will donate $9,175 because of the so-called sequestration.

"A day after Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said they'd return 5 percent of their paycheck to the Treasury, Secretary of State John Kerry followed in somewhat similar fashion," the Huffington Post reports.

"State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says Kerry, however, will give his 5 percent to a charity for department employees. She says he already makes significant charitable donations. Kerry makes $183,500 this year. His donation is worth $9,175." Based on Senate disclosure forms, Roll Call estimated Kerry to be worth $198.65 million in 2011.

Bummer, dude.  I guess he'll just have to keep parking his multi-million dollar yacht in a low tax state to dodge $500k in taxes on it.   

Maybe Eric Holder will take pity on the girls; he hasn't accepted the pay cut yet...

TOM JOYNER: You’re going to take the salary cut?

ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER: I’m not sure I’m ready for that. (Laughter)

 Because he seems not to be planning on cuts at Justice...

Meanwhile, back at the Washington Post, word comes down that the way the sequester is being applied to Medicare is causing cancer patients to lose treatment:  The explanation of why is rather obscure and shows how much thought Obama and his aides put into the sequester when they wrote it.

Legislators meant to partially shield Medicare from the automatic budget cuts triggered by the sequester, limiting the program to a 2 percent reduction — a fraction of the cuts seen by other federal programs.

But oncologists say the cut is unexpectedly damaging for cancer patients because of the way those treatments are covered.

Medications for seniors are usually covered under the optional Medicare Part D, which includes private insurance. But because cancer drugs must be administered by a physician, they are among a handful of pharmaceuticals paid for by Part B, which covers doctor visits and is subject to the sequester cut.

The federal government typically pays community oncologists for the average sales price of a chemotherapy drug, plus 6 percent to cover the cost of storing and administering the medication.

Since oncologists cannot change the drug prices, they argue that the entire 2 percent cut will have to come out of that 6 percent overhead. That would make it more akin to a double-digit pay cut.

Damn those accounting rules, and unexpected consequences anyway.

Obama, who formerly opposed and threatened to veto a Senate Bill that would have given him much more flexibility as to how to apply the sequester cuts budget increase slowdown, is now (at least publicly) telling the agencies to use the discrestion they have to "protect their mission."  We can only hope that their mission includes helping the public and not protecting their empires.

The White House budget office Thursday told agencies to try to use as much flexibility as they can to blunt the effects of the budget sequesters that took effect last month.

Danny Werfel, the budget office controller, said the sequesters don’t allow much discretion but said federal law does give some agencies the ability to reprogram or transfer money, and he said those agencies “may have a limited ability to realign funds to protect mission priorities.”

“Agencies with reprogramming or transfer authority should continue to examine whether the use of these authorities would allow the agency to minimize the negative impact of sequestration on core mission priorities,” Mr. Werfel said in a memo to federal departments and agencies, stressing guidance the administration gave several months ago.

White House to furlough 480 staffers.   Oh man, who's gonna get the golf balls?

The White House announced Monday that 480 staffers who work at the Office of Management and Budget have received furlough notices requiring that they take unpaid days off due to the sequester. White House press secretary Jay Carney made the announcement during a White House briefing on Monday, but he would not get into details about whether other members of the White House staff, including those who work closest to President Obama in the West Wing, received any notices...


The White House has also “significantly scaled back” buying equipment and has “curtailed” staff travel, as well as the use of Internet air cards.

The White House is also reviewing contracts to determine if it's able to “reduce costs and improve efficiencies” without undermining its core mission, Carney said.

But at least one agency developed an effective strategy to work with the sequester. Whine loudly, and threaten to cut back the nations cheeseburger supply.

Beef with the sequester? At least one federal program was able to beat it.

The sequester was supposed to be something new in Washington: a budget cut you couldn’t beat. Once it hit, it hit. The money was gone, and nobody could get it back.

That turned out to be true — for about three weeks. Then somebody beat it....

Last week, President Obama signed a spending bill that gave the Agriculture Department’s food inspectors what everybody else wanted: a get-out-of-the-sequester card. Their program got $55 million in new money, which replaced almost all of what the sequester took.

There’s a story there, about how power and lobbying can still make money appear in Washington, even in this age of austerity. It started with sharp political theater.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack insisted that the sequester would force him to shut down all U.S. meat production on at least 11 days.

The inspectors union didn’t believe that. Neither did many in the powerful meat lobby. But they were too worried not to help Vilsack anyway. After an extensive campaign, the Senate gave Vilsack the money.

So the sequester can be hacked. Now, other interest groups are waiting: police officers, airport executives, Border Patrol agents. The question is: Can it be hacked again?

Count on it.

One bright spot on the sequesters effects at the White House; they didn't have to cancel the annual Easter Egg Roll after all, and Obama was able to hobnob with some rich benefactors, after they chipped in to provide enough money to pay for what the cost of souvenir eggs didn't:

In a time of severe budget constraints, two factors explain why the White House can afford to welcome more than 30,000 people Monday for the 135th annual Easter Egg Roll: corporate sponsors and souvenir eggs.

Nearly a century ago, Congress empowered the National Park Service, which oversees the Easter Egg Roll, to accept private donations for its operations....

Commemorative eggs — emblazoned with the Obamas’ signatures and made from sustainably harvested American hardwoods — come in several colors and sell for $7.99. Customers who buy the full set for $29.99 receive a bonus egg depicting Bo, the first family’s dog, and attendees each receive a free souvenir egg as they leave the South Lawn.

Let's just hope Michelle grows enough rabbit food in her garden to feed the Easter Bunny until next year.