Setasha Jones Sequester
Setasha Jones
3/8/2013
Professor John Coltharp
Sociology
What is a Sequester?
A sequester is a cluster of cuts to federal spending that will take effect March 1, barring further congressional action. The 2013 cuts include $42.7 billion in defense cuts, $28.7 billion in domestic discretionary cuts, $9.9 billion in Medicare cuts, and $4 billion in other mandatory cuts. That makes a total of $85.4 billion in cuts, and from 2014 to 2021 the total cuts will equally 109 billion. The sequester was originally passed as part of the Budget Control Act of 2011, also known as debt ceiling compromise. It was supposed to serve as incentive for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to come to a deal to cut $ 1.5 trillion over 10 years. If the committee had stuck with their plan, and Congress had passed it by December 23, 2011, the sequester would have been prevented. Together with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and payroll tax cut, would have led to an enormous contraction positively throwing the United States into another recession. The combination of polices was known as the fiscal cliff. Therefore, a deal was reached to avoid the cliff which delayed the sequester until March 1. The cuts are equally split between domestic and defense programs, with half affecting defense discretionary spending including: weapon purchases, base operations, construction work, and the rest affecting both mandatory which largely means regular payouts like Social Security and Medicaid, and discretionary domestic spending. Only a few mandatory programs, such as the unemployment trust fund and, especially Medicare are affected. The sequester will likely affect Georgia by decreasing funding for primary and secondary education by $28.6 million, and putting 390 jobs at risk. Also, it will decrease the number of students served by 4,000 and decrease the number of schools receiving funding by 80. Other cuts that may affect Georgia are Airport security being cut by $323 million, which can
3/8/2013
Professor John Coltharp
Sociology
What is a Sequester?
A sequester is a cluster of cuts to federal spending that will take effect March 1, barring further congressional action. The 2013 cuts include $42.7 billion in defense cuts, $28.7 billion in domestic discretionary cuts, $9.9 billion in Medicare cuts, and $4 billion in other mandatory cuts. That makes a total of $85.4 billion in cuts, and from 2014 to 2021 the total cuts will equally 109 billion. The sequester was originally passed as part of the Budget Control Act of 2011, also known as debt ceiling compromise. It was supposed to serve as incentive for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to come to a deal to cut $ 1.5 trillion over 10 years. If the committee had stuck with their plan, and Congress had passed it by December 23, 2011, the sequester would have been prevented. Together with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and payroll tax cut, would have led to an enormous contraction positively throwing the United States into another recession. The combination of polices was known as the fiscal cliff. Therefore, a deal was reached to avoid the cliff which delayed the sequester until March 1. The cuts are equally split between domestic and defense programs, with half affecting defense discretionary spending including: weapon purchases, base operations, construction work, and the rest affecting both mandatory which largely means regular payouts like Social Security and Medicaid, and discretionary domestic spending. Only a few mandatory programs, such as the unemployment trust fund and, especially Medicare are affected. The sequester will likely affect Georgia by decreasing funding for primary and secondary education by $28.6 million, and putting 390 jobs at risk. Also, it will decrease the number of students served by 4,000 and decrease the number of schools receiving funding by 80. Other cuts that may affect Georgia are Airport security being cut by $323 million, which can
Bibliography: Good, Chris. "6 Questions (and Answers) About the Sequester." 1 March 2013. OTUS NEWS. 8 March 2013 <abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/qustions-answers-sequester/story>.