According to the Office of Personnel Management’s 50-page Guidance for Administrative Furloughs, employees aren’t permitted even to volunteer to do their jobs without pay during any of the hours or days designated as furlough time off.

“Unless otherwise authorized by law, an agency may not accept the voluntary services of an employee,” rules state.

Air Travel

Obama warned for weeks before the cuts went into effect on March 1 that sequestration would be a “self-inflicted wound” to the economy. He forecast disruptions to air travel due to cutbacks at the Federal Aviation Administration, and said the spending reductions would throw 70,000 children off the Head Start program and eliminate 4 million meals for seniors.

Last week, after furloughs of air-traffic controllers forced delays at the nation’s largest airports and provoked anger from travelers and the airline industry, Congress voted to allow the FAA to move as much as $253 million within its budget to avoid further employment disruptions. Lawmakers didn’t address the cuts in other programs.

Obama, at an April 30 news conference, said the spending cuts were hurting the economy and U.S. workers. Still, he indicated sequestration would continue unless Republicans in Congress agree to replaces the across-the-board spending cuts with a long-range fiscal deal that includes raising government revenues and cutting entitlement programs.

“It’s slowed our growth,” Obama said of sequestration. “It’s resulting in people being thrown out at work. And, it’s hurting folks all across the country.”

Law’s Requirement

The law requires the executive office of the president, with about 2,000 employees, to cut approximately $24 million from its $711 million fiscal year 2013 budget request, according to a report by the White House Office of Management and Budget released the day the reductions took effect.

That amount pales in comparison with cuts mandated for other departments: Customs and Border Protection, for example, must trim $512 million and the National Institutes of Health stand to lose nearly $1.6 billion by the end of the fiscal year.