Generally I look askance at Congressmen who moan about inconveniences or suffering that has been brought about by the sequester. It's usually about some silly expenditure we would all be better off without but I never imagined a world without helium. Congressman Hank Johnson, the Congressman who asks the hard questions, such as, will over population cause Guam to capsize? has trained his keen intellect and his Obamaesque oratory skills to bear on on the problem of a possibile helium shortage.
The National Helium Reserve is one of those agencies that exits solely for the benefit of its employees.
It was established in 1925 because helium was necessary for airships and it was considered a strategic material. The "Helium Privatization Act of 1996" directed the United States Department of the Interior to start liquidating the reserve by 2005 and it is still liquidating. Rome wasn't built in a day! If it take a sequester to drive a steak through the heart of an agency that does nothing so be it but don't blame Congressman Johnson when your kids don't have balloons at their birthday parties.
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