In guidance provided to agencies yesterday on the continuing budgetary uncertainty caused by the "fiscal cliff" deal, the White House Office of Management and Budget said federal employee representatives should be involved in any potential furlough decisions "to the fullest extent practicable."

But the acting president of U.S. EPA's chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees today said the agency has not provided union officials with any details about how it's preparing for what could be deep cuts.

"The agency is not responding at all," acting AFGE 238 President Tom Link said today. "We have submitted a formal information request: 'Please provide us with what is being done to plan for sequestration furloughs.' We've gotten nothing back."

Link, whose group represents about 10,000 EPA employees, said that the union has asked agency brass to conduct conference calls once a week with union officials to provide updates on how EPA is preparing for the cuts, but that agency officials continue to say that discussions on sequester issues are under way and that no decisions have been made.

"AFGE Council 238 wants to be an asset to the Agency for sharing information with our [bargaining unit employees] and transparency in communication, in these most difficult of times," Link said in a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson today reiterating his complaints.

If his requests continue to go unanswered, Link said in an interview, the next step could be to file a federal unfair labor practice complaint on the grounds that the agency is withholding information.

In the meantime, Link said, the union will continue to reach out to employees to urge them to take the threat of sequestration seriously and plan ahead for a potential loss of paycheck.

An EPA spokeswoman today referred questions on the union complaints to OMB.

OMB Deputy Director Jeff Zients said in his letter to agency heads yesterday that they should be actively working to identify "the most appropriate means to reduce civilian workforce costs where necessary" because sequestration is still a real possibility.

And if sequestration happens, "federal agencies will likely need to furlough hundreds of thousands of employees and reduce essential services such as food inspections, air travel safety, prison security, border patrols, and other mission-critical activities," he said.

AFGE's national union president issued a statement today noting that the memo advises agencies to consider hiring freezes and furloughs for employees, but tells agencies to be "mindful" of how contractors "advance the core mission of the agency."

"OMB needs to tell agencies to be mindful of how federal employees advance the core mission of agencies," AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. said in a statement. "Contractors are more costly and numerous than federal employees, yet they are merely subjected to the possibility of cuts. Meanwhile, OMB suggests to agencies a whole panoply of actual cuts to the federal workforce."

Zients noted in his guidance that before passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) of 2012 on Jan. 2, the requirements of the 2011 Budget Control Act mandated that President Obama issue a sequestration order on that day. And although the ATRA postponed the sequestration date by two months, he acknowledged that agencies had already engaged in "extensive planning for operations under post-sequestration funding levels."

OMB said in late December that federal agencies must give employees 60 days' notice before implementing prolonged furloughs (E&E Daily, Dec. 28, 2012).

Zients wrote yesterday that until Congress acts to prevent sequestration, agencies should "continue to prepare for the possibility that they will need to operate with reduced budgetary resources."

In his news conference at the White House yesterday, Obama also put the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of Congress when asked whether he was prepared to allow the government to shut down over the debt ceiling debate.

"Ultimately, Congress makes the decisions about whether or not we spend money and whether or not we keep this government open," Obama said. "And if the Republicans in Congress have made a decision that they want to shut down the government in order to get their way, then they have the votes at least in the House of Representatives, probably, to do that. "

Obama said he believes a shutdown would be a mistake and damage the U.S. economy.

"I think it's shortsighted. But they're elected representatives, and folks put them into those positions and they're going to have to make a decision about that," he said.