That’s right, in 7 Legislative days the Sequestration will take place. The Sequestration calls for $500 Billion dollar cuts to Pentagon spending and $700 Billion dollar cuts to non-pentagon spending.
How did we get to such a point with something so dangerous? The truth of the matter is, everyone expected that no one would let it happen.
The road to Sequestration started in July, 2011, when tea party Republicans attempted to block raising the debt ceiling, something which is done under every presidency. That catalyst set a series of unfortunate events into motion. First off, S & P down-graded our credit rating. Not by much, but a little. The stock market took an adverse reaction and many of us lost tens of thousands of dollars.
A 12 person panel called the supercommittee was formed to solve the of reducing debt. 6 Democrats and 6 Republicans–except one problem existed. The Democrats didn’t put budget experts like Mark Warner on the committee and all 6 Republican members has taken a no tax pledge with Grover Norquist. Now how do you expect to get anything done when part of your negotiating power is gone?
By November of 2011, the group gave up and notified the President that they could not come to a consensus.
According to ideamoneywatch.com:
The Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA) established a 12 member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (or “super committee”) charged with reducing the deficit by an additional $1.2 – $1.5 trillion over ten years. The BCA also included a sequestration hammer should the super committee fail, a provision intended to “force” the super committee to act.
Despite the threat of sequestration, the super committee failed. Announcing its inability to reach an agreement on November 21, 2011, the members of the bipartisan committee stated that “after months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee’s deadline.”
So, as established in the BCA, sequestration was triggered when the super committee failed to reach an agreement. Sequestration generates automatic cuts for each of nine years, FY 13-21, totaling $1.2 trillion. Sequestration was originally scheduled to take effect on Jan. 2, 2013. However, it was delayed for two months – until March 1, 2013, by the deal struck on New Year’s Eve, called the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.
Now, without Congressional action to prevent sequestration, the first round of cuts will take place on March 1, 2013.
The 2013 cuts apply to “discretionary” spending and are divided between reductions to defense ($500 billion) and non-defense ($700 billion).
Sequestration can only be avoided if Congress passes legislation that undoes the legal requirement in the BCA and that President Obama will sign before March 1, 2013.
While advocacy efforts to prevent sequestration are beginning to spring up, the strongest efforts focus on preventing the deep cuts to defense spending.
Perhaps it isn’t really a spending problem as the tea party people would have us think. Perhaps we really do need to pay a little more in taxes. In the grand scheme of things, Americans don’t pay as much in taxes as people do in other western countries.
Obviously, there can be some military cuts but do we risk weakening our national security with Sequestration? Across the board cuts are non-discriminatory. We would lose how many planes, how many ships the first year? How would the Sequestration affect training? How would it affect the care we give to those coming back from a decade of war? How will it affect long range care of the 30,000 who have been wounded?
The military leaders who testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee sure didn’t think there was anything funny about Sequestration. Neither did the senators. According to usnews.com:
Top defense-minded lawmakers on Capitol Hill agree the more than $46 billion in automatic budget cuts scheduled to hit the Pentagon over the next seven months would have “devastating effects” on the military’s ability to prepare for future and current conflicts.
“This whole thing is dumb,” said independent Maine Sen. Angus King during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday. “This is a totally self-imposed disaster that we don’t have to do.”
But time is running out to either replace the nearly $500 billion in across-the-board cuts scheduled to go into effect over the next decade at the Pentagon, or punt the cuts to a later date.
“If I were [the president], I would have the helicopter running on lawn of the Capitol. … I hope he takes the initiative,” King said.
How would Sequestration affect education? How would it affect programs that assist local areas with students with disabilities?
How would sequestration affect our national parks and monuments? A million tourists will pour into DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival whether there is Sequestration or not. Do we want less security? How about tree maintenance? How about mowing? Trash pick up?
Will the nearly 400 parks and monuments have to close down part of the time? They are already in ill-repair and have been since around 2000. Somehow our national treasures just haven’t gotten top billing. The national parks are for everyone-not just the rich who usually go to the Hamptons.
Congress needs to get back to town and get to work. They need to make some cut backs and they need to increase some taxes while they are at it. How about a flat tax to help out. Just a flat deficit tax that doesn’t gouge everyone to death and that is dedicated to reducing the deficit. That is a place to start.
Congress would have to prioritize. Yes, there need to be some cuts in the defense budget. How about cutting General’s housing and golf courses rather than money that goes to VA hospitals? Sensible spending. Across the board cuts are just dangerous and stupid.
Northern Virginia will be hit hard. What happens federally will have to be picked up by the localities. All of us should be quaking in our shoes. Time to reject this self-inflicted wound that weakens our nation.
No. The path to sequestration began when the Senate and President stopped passing budgets (beginning in 2010?). The president prefers this brinkmanship, because he benefits politically by making the Republicans look bad, and then is a able to extract concessions from the Republicans that he would not get otherwise. Obama himself was the one that came up with the idea of sequestration.
The Tea Party did nothing more than demand accountability and restrained spending …. clearly unreasonable demands.
The Congress should use the normal legislative process to eradicate sequestration, pass a budget, reduce spending, and extend the debt limit. We have already had tax increases this year. It’s time for the president and Senate compromise and enact meaningful cuts.
Those tea party members were irresponsible and endangered this country. They also knocked another big hole in people’s retirement accounts.
YES. What I described set the wheels in motion. Kelly, the Republicans make themselves look bad. Not all of them but many of them do.
I know exactly what the tea party did and most of them live in an alternate reality.
BTW, I think many people around here are embarrassed to be associated with that group. I see lots of the snake symbols have been taken out of front yards.
Where would you start cutting, Kelly? I expect, like everyone else, whatever doesn’t affect the person.
Regardless of where it is coming from…the point really is, Kelly, that Congress needs to fix it and fix it now. You can’t have severe budget chops in the middle of a economic recovery.
Postpone the damn thing for a year. I like the idea of the President taking the leadership and a few key witnesses to Camp David and keeping them there until they come up with a plan. I also like Congress not getting paid until they fix it.
Someone needs to look at all the budget areas and assess what impact various cuts will have. Independent committees need to be formed.
Who ever heard of 6 people being on a committee who have already taken a pledge not to increase taxes? They are going in with their minds made up.
These cuts will have an adverse impact on our local economy. Right or wrong, we all benefit from the fact that we live near the nation’s capital. Consequently, we have a more affluent community, with better schools, parks and neighborhoods. Perhaps it ought not be that way, I dunno, it is what it is. Expect some pain if these cuts take place.
YES. What I described set the wheels in motion. Kelly, the Republicans make themselves look bad. Not all of them but many of them do.
I know exactly what the tea party did and most of them live in an alternate reality.
Other than the fact that you are biased against the Tea Party and blame them for something that the Ratings agencies blame the entire Congress…
You are absolutely right. I mean, your opinion makes you right.
And here again, you are blaming the Tea Party for something that the entire Congress is involved in.
The sequester cuts 100 billion per year over ten years. There are no actual cuts. Spending, including military spending still goes up. Obama suggested it, Congress wrote it up and he signed it. Some of the TEA party voted AGAINST the entire scheme, so how is this their fault?
We were downgraded because the Congress and the President cannot control their spending addiction. The agencies stated that and downgraded us again later, without any debt limit involved.
I am not biased against the tea party. I flat out think they/it is full of crap and I don’t like it. I base this on the behaviors I have seen from those representing that group.
So why is it when I don’t like something, I am biased?
When you don’t like something, like oh, half the Republicans, all the Democrats and the president, you are right?
Only in your own mind, Cargo.
I know exactly what caused that mini crash in July/August 2011. Don’t go into denial and try revisionist history on me.
Because I will blame the people causing the problems. You are blaming the people trying to stop the problem because you refuse to accept the fact that the ratings agencies downgraded us because they see that the Congress refuses to rein in spending.
The ratings agencies have threatened to do it again…without any “brinksmanship.” Its the spending.
I am blaming the people who obviously do not understand that this country has to pay its bills. Obviously they don’t understand what the debt ceiling does.
I will continue to blame those people who took a pledge from some idiot and almost ran this country off a cliff back in July 2011. Nothing you say will convince me otherwise. I have talked to too many people in the financial sector who point the finger straight to those clowns. These aren’t democrat financial folks either.
Their actions put a great deal of financial hurt on a lot of people, especially those who were already recovering from the crash of 2008.