Cuts in government spending scheduled for January would affect a wide range of federal agencies and their employees, senior Obama administration officials said Friday.

A White House analysis of how “sequestration” — or mandatory reductions — would affect government operations warned of cutbacks in food inspections, air traffic control, numbers of FBI and customs and border patrol agents, as well as federally sponsored medical research, among other programs.

The report, however, does not specify the numbers of employees who might be affected by job cuts, furloughs or other cost-saving measures agencies may use.

“Clearly, if sequester were to occur, it would have a significant impact on the federal workforce,” said one of several officials the White House allowed to be quoted only on condition of anonymity.

A federal judge Thursday temporarily blocked the government from enforcing a new insider trading law that would require about 28,000 executive branch employees to disclose details of their financial transactions on the Internet.

U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. in Greenbelt granted opponents of the law a temporary preliminary injunction that prevents the so-called STOCK Act from being enforced until Oct. 31 .The law, signed by President Obama in April, had been set to take effect Aug. 31.

The judge wrote that the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act appeared to illegally infringe on federal workers’ right to privacy. The injuction does not, however, affect the law from taking effect for members of Congress and their staffs. The law was written with them in mind. Congress amended it to extend to senior executives in the executive branch, including the military.

While the lambasting of federal workers is common sport in the 2012 election season, a select group of them was spared the usual treatment and instead saluted for their accomplishments Thursday afternoon.

“It’s breathtaking to see what good is being done by the government in the quiet recesses, away from the headlines and invective,” syndicated columnist George Will said a luncheon at The Washington Post honoring the finalists for the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals.

Jake Taylor, NIST (Sam Kittner/kittner.com - SAM KITTNER/KITTNER.COM)

The awards, dubbed the Oscars of federal service, will be handed out at a gala in Washington Thursday night. Those honored include researchers battling AIDS and bone marrow disease, Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents, and an amputee clinic chief aiding Iraq and Afghanistan veterans

Among the honorees attending the luncheon was Jacob Taylor, a 34-year-old physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology who has been awarded the Call to Service Medal for federal employees under the age of 35 in government service for less than five years.

“The neat thing is people here are focused on the concept of service - what are we doing to help the country, and are there ways to do it better,” said Taylor, who works at the NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg.

Winners of the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals being awarded Thursday include researchers battling AIDS and bone marrow disease, a DEA agent who helped convict a notorious arms trafficker, and officials helping combat amputees and fighting veterans’ homelessness.

The “Sammies,” as they are informally known, are considered among the most prestigious awards for U.S. civil servants.

“In this political season, we see people again and again tearing down our government,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, which sponsors the awards. “We will never get what we want out of our government if we focus solely on its shortcomings and fail to celebrate its successes.”

The General Services Administration will look at reducing the surcharge it applies to federal agencies who make purchases from its awards schedules.

The schedules are shopping catalogues of prenegotiated contracts from which federal agencies can buy goods or services, whether staples, paper, computer networks or office cleaning crews. GSA maintains thousands of contracts on 31 separate schedules, according to the Government Accountability Office.

But the fee GSA charges when federal agencies make purchases from those schedules is generating too much money.