White House Releases Sequestration Report

On Friday, the Obama administration released a report documenting the myriad consequences of across the board cuts to both domestic and defense spending -- known as sequestration -- that are scheduled to occur early next year.

The report comes pursuant to a requirement Congress included in recent legislation, which President Obama signed into law.

"Instead of working to enact a balanced deficit reduction package to avoid the threat of sequestration, some Members of Congress are focusing on unbalanced solutions that rely solely on spending cuts or try to alter only part of the sequestration," the report reads. "These proposals do notrepresent realistic, fair, or responsible ways to avoid sequestration. Unlike the President’s proposals, they are sharply contrary to the conclusions of numerous independent and bipartisan groups that recommend a comprehensive, balanced deficit reduction package comprised of both spending cuts and revenue increases." You can read the report below.

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http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/white-house-releases-sequestration-report

The sequester cuts in one graph

Posted by Sarah Kliff

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A quick reminder of what each of these categories encompasses:

• Non-exempt defense discretionary funding sees a 9.4 percent spending reduction. This covers things, such as keeping military bases open, paying salaries and research and development.
  
  
• Non-exempt mandatory defense spending sees the biggest cut of 10 percent.
  
  
• Non-exempt, non-defense discretionary funding gets cut by 8.2 percent. This includes anything that Congress has to authorize each year, so programs like Head Start and AIDS assistance.
  
  
• Non-exempt, non-defense mandatory programs see a 7.6 percent reduction. There’s not, however, much left to cut in this category because the large mandatory programs were largely shielded from the cuts. More on that right below.
  
  
• Medicare is, well, Medicare – the health insurance program for America’s seniors. The sequester specifically limited Medicare cuts to 2 percent of the program’s budget.

Keep in mind, certain programs are exempt from the sequester completely. Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Social Security, for example, do not get touched at all. And within the programs listed above, there are specific, smaller programs that get carved out as untouchable too.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/14/the-sequester-cuts-in-one-graph/