Limousine liberals? Number of government-owned limos has soared under Obama

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exits a limousine. AP

State Department dominates the limo count, says purchases reflect need to protect diplomats and foreign visitors in a dangerous world

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Limousines, the very symbol of wealth and excess, are usually the domain of corporate executives and the rich. But the number of limos owned by Uncle Sam increased by 73 percent during the first two years of the Obama administration, according to an analysis of records by iWatch News.
Most of the increase was recorded in Hillary Clinton’s State Department.
Obama administration officials said most of the increase reflects an enhanced effort to protect diplomats and other government officials in a dangerous world. But a watchdog group says the abundance of limos sends the wrong message in the midst of a budget crisis. The increase in limos comes to light on the heels of an executive order from President Obama last week that charges agencies to increase the fuel efficiency of their fleets.
According to General Services Administration data , the number of limousines in the federal fleet increased from 238 in fiscal 2008, the last year of the George W. Bush administration, to 412 in 2010. Much of the 73 percent increase—111 of the 174 additional limos—took place in fiscal 2009, more than eight months of which corresponded with Obama’s first year in office.  However, some of those purchases could reflect requests made by the Bush administration during an appropriations process that would have begun in the spring of 2008. 
The GSA said its limousine numbers are not reliable, even though the federal fleet numbers are officially recorded every year.  In a statement, GSA spokeswoman Sara Merriam said, “The categories in the Fleet Report are overly broad, and the term 'limousine' is not defined,” adding that “vehicles represented as limousines can range from protective duty vehicles to sedans.” Asked whether the GSA actually knows how many limos it has in its fleet, Merriam responded that GSA “cannot say that its report accurately reflects the number of limousines.”  
Leslie Paige, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste, was outraged that the GSA’s numbers may not be accurate. “They can’t figure out a way to define a limo? How hard can it be? If the government can’t track limos, I’m not sure we should trust the numbers they put out there on anything,” she said.
 Although the overall limo numbers in the fleet report were up in 2010, federal agencies and departments did not benefit equally. The State Department, with 259, had more limos than any other agency in 2010 and has gained 194 limos just since fiscal 2008. Of those new limos, 98 were defined as “law enforcement,” which the GSA said means they are equipped with sirens or lights, high-performance drivetrains, or are used for surveillance or undercover operations.  
The State Department in a statement said its limos are deployed by overseas diplomats and in the United States by Secretary of State Clinton and “distinguished foreign visitors.”  Many of the limos in its fleet are armored to protect against attack. The department said its Obama-era increase in armored limos is “both in proportion to the increased threat to diplomats serving overseas and is in proportion to the increase number of diplomats we have serving in high threat environments.” Appropriations documents indicate the State Department was engaged in a longer-term effort to increase the number of armored vehicles that would have stretched back to at least 2007. 
The department said it defines a limo as a vehicle that carries a VIP or “other protectee,” rather than by the type of car, but said most of its limos are Cadillac DTSs, which cost the taxpayer more than $60,000 for a 2011 base model and support the additional weight of armoring. The department said it also purchased a limited number of 7-Series BMWs for ambassadors in countries where vehicles are right-hand drive.
The Department of Homeland Security, which in 2010 had the second largest number of limos at 118, dropped four limos from 2008 to 2010. A spokesman for DHS said the majority of its limos are used by the Secret Service, which is part of the department, but declined to elaborate on exact numbers, citing security concerns.
Paige, of CAGW, called the new federal limos “one more reason why there is so much cynicism in the public about what goes on in Washington.” She said terrorism and security has become the catchall justification for increased federal spending.
The increase in limos comes at a time when the Obama administration is increasingly working to burnish its green energy credentials by targeting the federal fleet.  On Tuesday, Obama released a presidential memorandum requiring agencies to purchase only alternative fuel vehicles by 2015. The memorandum limits executive fleets to mid-sized and smaller cars “except where larger sedans are essential to the agency mission.” It also exempts law enforcement and security vehicles, which could make up the majority of the federal  limo fleet.
According to a March report by the GAO, the federal government spent $1.9 billion on new vehicles in fiscal 2009, and burned through 963,000 gallons of fuel  a day with its fleet of 600,00 vehicles.
 The number of limousines in the federal fleet has varied over the years. In 2007, the number dropped to 217 from 318 a year before. But due to the fuzzy GSA accounting, it’s unclear exactly how many federal limos have been on the road.
According to the GSA report, for example, the U.S. Agency for International Development, which had zero limos in 2008, added six limos to its fleet in 2009. But agency spokesman Lars Anderson said that’s because six standard overseas sedans, including a 1997 Ford Crown Victoria in Bangladesh, and a 2009 Mercury Grand Marquis in El Salvador, were incorrectly recorded as limos.
If the data is correct, some federal employees who once rode in style now face more proletarian transportation options. The Department of Veterans Affairs, for example, ran a fleet of 21 limousines in 2008 under George W. Bush, according to the fleet report. It now makes do with only one.  The Government Printing Office also lost

Limousine liberals? Number of government-owned limos has soared under Obama

77,000 feds paid more than governors

** FILE ** A congressional study revealed that 7,283 federal employees in Maryland made more than Gov. Martin O'Malley’s $150,000 salary in 2009. (Associated Press)

More than 77,000 federal government employees throughout the country — including computer operators, more than 5,000 air traffic controllers, 22 librarians and one interior designer — earned more than the governors of the states in which they work.
The findings, from a Congressional Research Service report requested by Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, were released at a time when public workers’ salaries and benefits are under scrutiny across the country as governments try to streamline.
CRS reviewed 2009 salary figures, the most recent available, and found 77,057 employees who earned more in annual pay than their respective governors. Of those workers, 18,351 were doctors — the highest percentage. The second-highest total was for 5,170 air traffic controllers — likely both front-line controllers and their supervisors.
In Maryland, 7,283 federal employees — about 7 percent of all full-time federal employees in the state — earned more than Gov. Martin O'Malley’s $150,000 salary. Maryland was topped by Colorado, which in 2009 had 10,875 employees who made more than the $90,000 salary of the governor, Bill Ritter.
“Across America, governors are being asked to do more with less, often at lower pay than federal employees in their states. The pay gap between governors and federal employees should prompt Congress to take a closer look at federal salaries,” Mr. Coburn said. “With our debt and deficits spiraling out of control, now is the time to ask agencies — not just governors — to do more with less.”
Government workers’ salaries and benefit packages have come under fire at the local, state and national levels as agencies seek places to cut.
The workers have disputed charges that they earn, on average, more than their private-sector counterparts, but critics point out total compensation, including health care and pensions.
On average, the age of the federal work force is older, and thus likely to be higher paid, than those in the private sector. A higher percentage of federal workers than private-sector employees hold management jobs.
President Obama late last year proposed a two-year salary freeze for federal workers, following on the heels of his announcement soon after he took office in 2009 that he was freezing salaries of top White House employees.
Both houses of Congress voted this year to cut their own budgets, too.
The federal Office of Personnel Management declined to comment on the CRS report’s findings.
But Beth Moten, legislative and political director for the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents 625,000 federal employees, said the bigger problem is the amount of money that contractors can collect. She said contractors can be reimbursed up to $693,000 toward salaries for their top five executives, and even more for other employees doing government work.
“So the government’s paying $700,000 and more for contractor salaries, and Sen. Coburn worries about the pay of physicians who care for wounded soldiers?” Ms. Moten said. “If those governors want to make more money, they should either become contractors or try applying to medical school.”
Mr. Coburn asked for the review to use governors’ salaries, figuring a state’s chief executive’s pay would be a good yardstick for top-end salaries in each state.
California’s governor made the highest salary at $212,179 in 2009, though Arnold Schwarzenegger did not accept pay. Just 703 federal workers in California earned more than that level of pay, and all but 34 of them were in medicine.

Labor Market Worries Rise on Weak Private Sector Job Growth

U.S. private-sector payroll growth slowed sharply in May coming in far below expectations and falling to the lowest level in eight months, a report by a payrolls processor showed Wednesday.

Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Images Job seekers wait in line to have their résumés reviewed at the second annual Anaheim/Orange County Job Fair.

The ADP Employer Services report showed private employers added a scant 38,000 jobs last month, while April private payrolls were revised down to an increase of 177,000 from the previously reported 179,000. Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast a gain of 175,000 jobs for May.

The report is jointly developed with Macroeconomic Advisers LLC.

"Obviously a much weaker-than-expected report, hinting that Friday's nonfarm data will also be weaker than expected," said Camilla Sutton, senior currency strategist at Scotia Capital in Toronto, referring to the U.S. Labor Department's monthly non-farm payrolls report due for Friday.

"We've seen general softening in U.S. data, and that's a concern about how the recovery is maintaining itself. Markets are starting to turn their attention to this."

U.S. stock index futures added to losses following the report, while the greenback extended losses against the yen and euro. Government debt prices extended earlier gains.

The ADP figures come ahead of the government's much more comprehensive labor market report Friday, which includes both public and private sector employment.

That report is expected to show a rise in overall nonfarm payrolls of 180,000 in May, slowing down from a gain of 244,000 the month before. Private payrolls are expected to come in at 205,000.

Economists often refer to the ADP report to fine-tune their expectations for the payrolls numbers, though it is not always accurate in predicting the outcome.

Layoffs Rise

Meanwhile, a separate report showed the number of planned layoffs at US firm rose modestly in May with government and non-profit sectors making up a large portion of the cuts, according to a report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Employers announced 37,135 planned job cuts last month, up 1.8 percent from April and 4.3 percent more than in May 2010. Cuts in 2011 now total nearly 205,000, down by 21 percent on the first five months of 2010.

Government and non-profits continue to be the hardest hit, the report said, but government cutbacks are now impacting on the private sector as scale - backs on spending bleed into the aerospace and defense industry. This sector saw nearly 5,800 cuts in May, taking the total for the first five months to more than 17,500 – more than three times the number of cuts over the same period in 2010.

However, with 760,000 new workers joining private sector payrolls since February, the data shows that outside of government, employers are not anticipating a prolonged slowdown, John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.

"Most employers realise that these types of ups and downs are typical during recoveries. So, it is unlikely that we will see a sudden resurgence in corporate downsizing in the months ahead, unless there is a major shock to the economy," Challenger said.

Cost-cutting, businesses closing and restructuring are the reason for nearly 70 percent of job cuts so far this year, the report said.

The financial sector has shed 11,413 jobs this year, 21 percent up on the first five months of 2010.

California has seen the largest number of cuts in the country so far this year, at 32,024, followed by 15,386 in the District of Colombia.

Private Sector Jobs Grew By Only 38,000 in May

Companies in the U.S. added 38,000 workers to payrolls in May, according to figures from ADP Employer Services. Photographer: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg

 

May 31 (Bloomberg) -- Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., talks about the performance of the U.S. economy. Consumer sentiment unexpectedly decreased in May to the lowest level in six months as Americans grew concerned over the outlook for jobs and the economy, while a measure of home prices dropped to a nine-year low. Feroli speaks with Mark Crumpton on Bloomberg Television's "Bottom Line." (Source: Bloomberg)

Companies in the U.S. added fewer workers than forecast in May, a sign that job growth is struggling to gain momentum, data from a private report based on payrolls showed today.
Employment increased by 38,000 last month, the smallest increase since September, from a revised 177,000 in April, according to figures from ADP Employer Services. The median estimate in the Bloomberg News survey called for a 175,000 advance for May.
Such gains in employment are insufficient to help the world’s largest economy accelerate after a surge in food and fuel costs earlier this year. Businesses added 207,000 jobs last month after a 268,000 gain in April and the jobless rate dipped to 8.9 percent from 9 percent, economists project a Labor Department report to show in two days.
“It is a warning shot across the bow that job growth is also weakening along with the other high frequency numbers,” Eric Green, chief market economist at TD Securities Inc. in New York, said in an e-mailed note to clients. “The weakness reflects a general slowdown and turn in sentiment that set in with the sharp rise in energy prices, disruptions from Japan, and to a lesser extent risk aversion stemming from the Greek fiasco.”
Stock-index futures dropped after the report. The contract on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index maturing in June fell 0.4 percent to 1,338.6 at 8:37 a.m. in New York. Treasury securities rose, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year note down to 3.02 percent from 3.06 percent late yesterday.

Survey Results

Estimates for the ADP data ranged from increases of 125,000 to 200,000, according to the Bloomberg survey of 37 economists.
Over the previous six reports, ADP’s initial figure was closest to the Labor Department’s first estimate of private payrolls in February, when it understated the gain in jobs by 5,000. The estimate was least accurate in December, when it overestimated the increase in employment by 184,000.
Another report today showed employers announced fewer job cuts in May than a year earlier, signaling the labor market is improving. Planned firings dropped 4.3 percent to 37,135 last month from May 2010, according to figures from Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Government and nonprofit agencies had the most cutbacks.
Today’s ADP report showed a decrease of 10,000 workers in goods-producing industries, which includes manufacturers and construction companies. Employment at factories fell by 9,000.

Data Breakdown

Service providers added 48,000 workers, ADP said.
Companies employing more than 499 workers cut their workforces by 19,000 jobs. Medium-sized businesses, with 50 to 499 employees, created 30,000 jobs and small companies increased payrolls by 27,000, ADP said.
The drop in manufacturing may reflect supply disruptions caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC in St. Louis, which produces the data with ADP, said in an interview on CNBC Television.
Some companies are already looking beyond the temporary slowdown and are making plans to expand payrolls further in 2012. General Motors Co. said last week it will invest $69 million and add 2,500 jobs to start making new models at the Detroit plant that builds the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid as the automaker boosts U.S. production.
Overall payrolls, which include government workers, probably rose by 180,000 in May after climbing by 244,000 a month earlier, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed before the Labor Department’s June 3 report.
Federal Reserve officials have said the jobless rate “remains elevated” at 9 percent, one reason central bankers pledged at their last meeting to complete an asset-purchase plan by the end of this month and to keep borrowing costs near zero.
The ADP report is based on data from about 340,000 businesses employing more than 21 million workers.