Sequestration looms - but when will the pain feel real?

Play Video

What will happen if the sequester takes place?

Tomorrow, barring a last-minute Washington miracle, President Obama will officially order the highly-anticipated, much-dreaded "sequestration" - an across-the-board set of budget cuts totaling $1.2 trillion from defense and non-defense spending over the course of the next ten years. The administration has been vehement in its calls for Congress to find a way to avert the legally-mandated package: The cuts, Mr. Obama says, will result in hundreds of thousands of lost jobs, crippling losses for the nation's public education system, defense cuts that would leave the country unprepared for future military engagements, and a number of day-to-day inconveniences, like long lines at the airport and the shuttering of some public parks.

As sequestration officially becomes law of the land, however, its impacts won't immediately be clear: Despite warnings of an economic turndown, cuts for 2013 will be rolled out over the next several months, triggering a government slowdown that will hit different agencies with various degrees of speed and impact as time goes on. And its toll, whatever it ends up being, will likely be drawn out and murky, with sources nearly unidentifiable to the average voter.

"It will be like a rolling ball," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, of the manner in which the cuts will impact the economy, in remarks to reporters this week. "It will keep growing."

What will happen on March 1?

According to the Budget Control Act of 2011, sequestration will cut $85 billion from the federal budget in the remainder of the 2013 fiscal year, slashing about $1.1 trillion more over the next decade. The White House has recently released a slew of memos detailing what they believe those cuts would look like on both a state and program level:

"The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) now calculates that sequestration will require an annual reduction of roughly 5 percent for nondefense programs and roughly 8 percent for defense programs," according to one fact sheet. "However, given that these cuts must be achieved over only seven months instead of 12, the effective percentage reductions will be approximately 9 percent for nondefense programs and 13 percent for defense programs. These large and arbitrary cuts will have severe impacts across the government."

• Full coverage: The Sequester
• When does the sequester start? Don't ask Washington
• Obama to meet with congressional leaders at sequester deadline

According to the White House, that means "10,000 teacher jobs would be put at risk, and funding for up to 7,200 special education teachers, aides, and staff could be cut"; loans to small businesses would be reduced by up to $540 million; research and development would be stalled as thousands of researchers and scientists would be at risk of losing their jobs; and "up to 373,000 seriously mentally ill adults and seriously emotionally disturbed children could go untreated," among other impacts.

Those calculations, however, assess the impacts of sequestration over the course of the fiscal year. But assigning and implementing those reductions will take time, and agencies will presumably do their best to blunt or delay the impacts of the reductions, moving money around, reassigning carry-over funds, delaying the announcement of new contracts and grants, and taking advantage of whatever flexibility they have.

• no previous page
• next

1/2

[TimeToEvolve]

Hillsagain, studies have shown again and again that Fox Noise watchers actually come to know LESS about facts and events than people who watch NO news at all. Fox is an embarrassment to Americans who have even half a brain. Facts are facts.

[TimeToEvolve]

The fact is that Fox Keeps You Stupid, those facts have been documented. If anyone can bear to listen to that gibberish, what is their take on the sequester. I assume they are for it since they are a paid TV station for the failed Republicon Party.

[dhouston121]

If they are a failed party, why are they still in control of the house? Seems to me that you garbage is what is failing

[Rln90011]

LMAO - don't forget this was Obama's idea! What a complete embarrassment this ""president" is!

[RBP917]

The President spent more time with Tiger Woods than congressional representatives, it speaks a great deal about his priorities.

[Skipping_Obamas_Koolaid]

What does This say about Obama's economy?..So fragile that a 2% cut to the "rate of growth" will send us into a tail-spin?....A Budget "FREEZE" would be a larger cut than the sequester cuts....everyone agrees Bush's Budgets were too large, but I don't think we will ever get back to his rate of spending. A budget cut that still spends more than last year is NOT a CUT.

[SudieMae]

From where I sit, it looks like most seriously mentally ill adults and seriously emotionally disturbed children are going untreated now. We need more quality, not necessarily more money. Cut the fat. As for teachers, somebody please help me understand why they get so many days off during the school year in addition to summer vacation, Christmas and spring breaks? When I was in school, I don't remember having substitute teachers. Now it's a routine thing, at least once a week.

[teacher12559]

As a teacher, let me tell you. Aside from Christmas break and other federal holidays, we don't have "so many days" off during the school year. Those days that your child stays home, we are doing report cards or attending district-mandated professional development or other meetings. Sometimes, we get a day off in exchange for staying 4-5 hours late a few times a quarter for parent-teacher conferences. I agree that we are very lucky to have those extended breaks during the year, but speaking for myself and other teachers I know, we take home a car-load of work to do over those breaks. There are lesson plans, grading, data entry, etc. that need to be done and it builds up when the kids are in session. We also generally work 10-hour days, coming in hours before the students get there to prepare and sometimes leaving after the sun has gone down. Most of us put in an additional 8-10 hours over the weekends. Over the summer, we have to take classes and attend conferences in order to be able to renew our licenses. So yes, we do not teach students every day of the year, but trust me, the majority of work that goes into teaching happens behind the scenes and on our days off. Also, I'm sorry that your child's teacher has a substitute once per week. That is not standard practice everywhere.

[Skipping_Obamas_Koolaid]

...The 2012 Budget will still be larger than the 2011 Budget, even if the Sequester goes though...

[Skipping_Obamas_Koolaid]

Let me restate, The 2013 Budget will still be larger than the 2012 Budget, even after the "Massive" Sequester Cut .....the 2012 budget was larger than the 2011 budget too.

[khilbrecht]

The National Guard currently employs hundreds upon hundreds of Military Technicians (full time Guardmembers who are paid through the civilian system but who wear the uniform every day) in each of the 54 states and territories. . Mil-techs provide everyday unit support and are considered full-time soldiers. It is these full time Soldiers and Airmen who keep our equipment ready for the traditional Citizen-Soldiers to fall in on when natural or man-made disasters happen. Bottom Line: Sequestration and subsequent furloughs for DA Civilians (to include Mil-Techs--they are NOT protected by the law and are NOT exempt from furloughs) will result in states NOT being able to respond to natural disasters in their respective communities. This is NOT a Republican nor Democrat exclusive issue. This is our elected officials issue. We, America, have done this to ourselves and our states will suffer because of it. Google "Chief of the National Guard Bureau Gen. Grass on sequestration" to see more on how sequestration will affect our Home Land Security.

[khilbrecht]

The National Guard currently employs hundreds upon hundreds of Military Technicians (full time Guardmembers who are paid through the civilian system but who wear the uniform every day) in each of the 54 states and territories. . Mil-techs provide everyday unit support and are considered full-time soldiers. It is these full time Soldiers and Airmen who keep our equipment ready for the traditional Citizen-Soldiers to fall in on when natural or man-made disasters happen. Bottom Line: Sequestration and subsequent furloughs for DA Civilians (to include Mil-Techs--they are NOT protected by the law and are NOT exempt from furloughs) will result in states NOT being able to respond to natural disasters in their respective communities. This is NOT a Republican nor Democrat exclusive issue. This is our elected officials issue. We, America, have done this to ourselves and our states will suffer because of it. Google "Chief of the National Guard Bureau Gen. Grass on sequestration" to see more on how sequestration will affect our Home Land Security.

[johnlockesghost]

We have managed to allow out politicians in Washington to build a dependency country. They overtax citizens, only to redistribute the money, but, and this is the important part, with a catch, either do things my way, or you don't get your money back, considering that you'd get it back anyway. Always threatening. The same applies to the sequestration where the administration threatens the citizens with all manner of ill things (and actually performs some as in letting loose criminal illegal aliens)if the citizens don't cave on their ideas on how to tax and spend. Does this sound like the government our founders established and our heroes have fought for? I don't think so!