Whether or not a budgetary shortfall will force the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to furlough its entire workforce for up to nineteen days this year (see WIT for March 6, 2003), will likely be determined in upcoming House-Senate negotiations over a war spending bill. While the Senate version of the bill provides for $18 million in funding to keep the EEOC out of the red---and an additional $5 million to implement a reorganization plan recommended by the National Academy of Public Administration---the House version does not. The agency's 2,783 employees face not only the possibility of temporary unemployment if the bailout measure fails to make it out of the negotiations, but also of permanent layoff as part of the consolidations contained in the reorganization recommendation.
See "EEOC Budget Crisis in Hands of House-Senate Negotiators", STEPHEN BARR, The Washington Post, April 7, 2003