Let's do the math

Has anybody else noticed that the LANL funding process is a teensy bit out of control this year? First, the House decides to cut LANL's funding by about $300 million. Then, the Senate comes charging to the rescue, led by our patron Saint of Pork, Pete (The Pork) Dominici, and that other guy. What's his name? Oh, yeah: Bingaman. Result of the rescue mission: a $90 million budget reduction.

So, it appears as if we have identified the two extremes of our expected funding at LANL for FY '08. In the months to ensue we may expect our lame duck (thankfully) president to veto the funding bill, which will then lead to the back room negotiations, which will eventually lead to a compromise which should fall somewhere between $300 and $90 million less than the FY '07 budget.

Care to translate these numbers into bodies? Using the guideline that somebody on the

http://lanl-the-rest-of-the-story.blogspot.com/2007/06/lax-and-lazy-at-los-alamos.html

post presented, the actual savings that can be obtained by RIFfing the "typical" LANS employee is about $100K. So, to get to $1M, we need to RIF 10 employees.

Let's do the math. Um, er, uh... I've got it: 900 - 3,000 bodies can be expected to fall by the wayside in FY '08. And if past years of watching our leaders in Washington take us through the Continuing Resolution process are any guide, we won't actually know what our budget will be until perhaps February (5 months after the start of FY '08).

Y'all like roller coasters?

--Gussie