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ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

White House Issues Detailed Warning About How Sequester Will Hurt Us

Panic now! Looming spending cuts will impact daily life

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by Lisa Fine

Staff Writer t

Image: AP

The White House has painted a stark picture of what life will look like if the $85 billion sequester --automatic across the board spending cuts --is allowed to kick in on March 1.

Unless Congress and President Barack Obama can work out a deficit reduction plan before then, a White House fact sheet released Friday provided some depressing details of the consequences. It said the sequester would result in 70,000 children kicked off Head Start. It would put 10,000 teacher jobs "at risk." Funding for 7,200 special education teachers and staff would be cut. There would be fewer food inspectors, according to Roll Call.

There would be 373,000 people losing access to mental-health treatment. Cuts would mean 1,000 fewer federal agents at the FBI and other federal agencies. It would mean thousands of furloughed workers, including hundreds of federal prosecutors which would mean fewer criminal prosecutions. It would also mean thousands of fewer federal research grants at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, Roll Call wrote.

That's just a small sampling of the devastation that the fact sheet outlined. Of course, releasing those details is a move seemingly designed to put pressure on Congress. Obama and Congress are far apart on making a deal. Obama is calling for "a balanced" approach to trimming the deficit, which means a mix of tax revenue and spending cuts. But GOP leadership is demanding cuts.

Via the White House, Roll Call and The Hill
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How confident are you that Congress and Obama will work out a deal to avoid the "sequester?"

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • jessejaymes
    !
    @thatgirl You bet.(walk out humming, I'm 'enry the 8th I am, I am. I got married next door, she's been married 7 times before and every one was an 'enery,'ENERY, I'm her eighth old man,'enery the 8th I am, I am ".)

    That should hold you about a week. Heh.
  • marine1
    !
    @jessejaymes If it is going to be so bad, why did they pass it in the first place? Was it another one of those deals where they had to pass it to know what is in it? Is there anyone that thinks these people deserve the salaries and benny they get?
  • jessejaymes
    !
    @marine1 How many times are they going to "save us" from what they themselves passed? this should be just cause to RE-ELECT NOBODY 2014
  • View all 7 replies >
  • u
    Yank
    !
    The left considers a compromise as doing exactly what Obama wants and ignores that this sequester was a compromise.
  • o
    NTBFW
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    To the dems compromise means doing it there way. We have to reduce the deficit. They need to figure it out and do it
  • u
    Yank
    !
    @NTBFW during the fiscal cliff talks Obama took most of the hotly debated issues off the table and then blamed the Republicans for not compromising or negotiating in good faith.

    Obama: "You can't touch most entitlement programs and have to raise taxes on the rich. These are none negotiable."
    Republicans: "We are not going to agree to that."
    Every Democrat: "Why won't Republicans negotiate?"
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    At some point, probably at the last possible moment, the Republican party is goping to cast aside all the ones who prevent any sort of compromise.

    Not because they are good citizens, but because the party will disintegrate if they don't.
  • View all 28 replies >
  • u
    AceLuby
    !
    Want cuts? Let's have cuts! Let's start with the fastest growing part of our federal govt, defense. There's no reason we should be spending twice as much as we were 10 years ago. We're not any safer, we're just more authoritative at home and abroad.

    END THE EMPIRE!
  • drpeeper
    !
    Government defense expenditures dropped by a staggering 22.2 percent annual pace between October and December.

    How about looking at waste? I know it baffles liberals that the gov't wastes money. But.Federally subsidized Amtrak lost $84.5 million on its food and beverage services in 2011 and $833.8 million over the past 10 years. It has never broken even on these services.

    Conferences for government employees. In 2008 and 2009 alone, the Department of Justice spent $121 million to host or participate in 1,832 conferences.

    Using military exercises to boost biofuels. The U.S. Navy bought 450,000 gallons of biofuels for $12 million—or almost $27 per gallon—to conduct exercises to showcase the fuel and bring it closer toward commercialization. It is the largest biofuel purchase ever made by the government.

    End the empire...zzzz stop with the whining burnout hippie slogans.
  • drpeeper
    !
    Improper payments in federal programs

    How much:$125 billion

    Who's responsible: Federal and state agencies and dishonest or misinformed citizens

    Each year, the federal government squanders an astonishing amount of your tax dollars on payments that are just plain wrong, including Social Security checks to the dead or incarcerated, free lunches to schoolchildren who don't qualify and unemployment benefits to the employed.
  • u
    AceLuby
    !
    @drpeeper Yay, they GREW 22% less... In what world do you live in that growing less fast = shrinking.

    Everything you just listed cost a whopping $1 billion dollars... total. Defense grew $400 billion A YEAR in just 10 years. Obviously you aren't serious about our budget deficit.
  • u
    AceLuby
    !
    @drpeeper Yay, now we're polling people at what they 'think' the waste is and using that as fact. My god. You don't care about our deficit, what you care about is ideological crap. Get out.
  • View all 16 replies >
  • DARSB
    !
    This "crisis" has been scheduled since the 2011 Budget Control Act was passed. It's very difficult to take any of the posturing from Congress seriously - and even more difficult to forgive any of these doofuses.
  • Rocker
    !
    Bah, don't worry about it, bro. Like mfg, the cuts will all be lower level workers and none of the higher level staff. No pay reductions for less staff to over-see. It gives the upper levels even less to do. Efficiency at fed and state levels is an oxy-moron.
  • martydotcom
    !
    Tea Party = The gift that keeps on giving, First 2012 now let the Sequester kick in and the Dems will benefit again in '14. I just can't wait to listen to Rand Paul v Marco Rubio v Obama Tues. night
  • Fishbone345
    !
    "and even more difficult to forgive any of these doofuses"
    Not really. America forgives them every time they send them back to DC after an election.
  • FFX_VA
    !
    Sequestration was proposed by the Obama White House, it's ironic Obama is now spinning his own idea against the GOP instead of owning up to it. If anything, this demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the GOP to defend itself politically.
  • Fishbone345
    !
    Or how about just sending them home? I keep dreaming of an election wherein there is complete turnover due to the fact that Congress is horrible. But the same people just keep going on back to Washington DC, business as usual.
    We can only blame them so much and then it becomes the fault of the People for voting for the same people over and over and over again.
  • stepped_in_it
    !
    @Fishbone345 That's why I repeat @jessejaymes statement RE-ELECT NOBODY 2014. I had said the same thing to many, only mine took about 50 words....his only 3.
  • MadAmerican
    !
    Why don't he cut the federal education system and let states do their own thing? How about the Energy Department? Useless as tits ona boar hog! It's just the same old Obama scare tactic when he doesn't get his way.
  • Zazziness
    !
    Because if we didn't have federal standards, kids in the Bible belt would all be trained to think The Garden of Eden is somewhere between Poughkeepsie and Hoboken, plopped down there 6,000 years ago by an naughty god who plants fossils just to fool us.
  • MadAmerican
    !
    @Zazziness Wrong! My mom was from the midwest and so are alot of my friends. they all have good jobs and an education. I can't believe you posted such a judgemental, uneducated, and inept statement. Do you really want to compare the education in the midwest to the amount of inner city dropouts on the east and west coast? Didn't think so.
  • MadAmerican
    !
    @Yank Ever heard of no child left behind? States get federal money when they follow federal regualted education guidelines.
  • View all 17 replies >
  • mwr
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    .Of course the WH issued warnings, this is normal scare, segregate, accuse tactic. Much easier than lead, compromise, coordinate responsibilities of the executive branch.
  • u
    Litdes
    !
    It almost hurts to wait and see if they will put country ahead of politics. This potentially ruinous financial cliff is an artificial cliff of their own creation. Congress need only pass a bill to make it all go away, while giving themselves greater time to make a long term plan.
  • o
    OhWiseOne
    !
    Oh the horrors! We might have to do with less government spending. I wish they would cut Head Start, eliminate the DOE, ATF, etc.... Plenty of places to cut and I hope the GOP stands firm for once and not let the criminal in chief go a spending spree.
  • PoliticalSpice
    !
    Except for head start I didn't see one program I cared if they cut. maybe food inspections. But less FBI agents, less prosecutors, less federal grants, I could care less. Whats clear is the article is aimmed at getting liberal dems to vote for it, to prevent sequester from hitting the military, which should also be cut. I say let sequester happen.
  • TDriver04
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    There's no need to work out a plan. It's over a 10 year span. Know one will even notice the money isn't there. Obama is the one who put the sequester in there to start with so let him have it.
  • Knightkore
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    Mental health system is a joke....food inspectors....FDA has missed out on some pretty important outbreaks....um....cuts and restructuring time...
  • PNWest
    !
    The American public voted for a Democratic President, a Democratic Senate and had about 1.4 million more congressional votes than the GOP. It's clear that the public favors the Democrats. Just like they did with the fiscal cliff negotiations at the beginning of the year just wait and watch the republicans fold again. They'll huff and puff and pander to the Tea types but in the end they have two choices - they can either go along with the President or they can shut everything down and trash the economy. Although I wouldn't put it past them to crater the economy in order to damage Obama I don't think that their rich backers will allow them to do it. Get ready to watch the GOP fold like a cheap lawn chair.
  • Thegrif
    !
    So what you are saying is- Republicans love America and it's people enough to work this out, so all of these programs ( teachers, special ed programs, head start programs, etc.) are not lost, so our kids do not have to do without.
    And I think you are right too, Republicans will fold, we love our country.
    Sure would be nice if our President did.
    If he actually took the lead and gave a little to strike a real working plan, but I imagine he will just sit back and say, do it my way or watch the programs fall.
    Hell America needs a hostage negotiator to deal with Obama.
  • drpeeper
    !
    Still on that "more total votes" thing that means nothing. LOL With your logic, Clinton should have taken a back seat from 92-2000 since he never got a majority of democrat votes. Perot/Bush & Perot/Dole got more combined % votes than Clinton both times.

    Let me hold your hand and walk you through this again, since you seem mentally deficient. If a Congressional democrat in New York City for 100000 more votes than his opponent. And a Congressional GOPer in small town, Arkansas won by 10000 votes It's a wash. And your "more congressional votes" blather means zip. Understand yet?
  • PNWest
    !
    @drpeeper Clinton got more votes than any of the other candidates. He won and rightfully so. The dems got more votes than the GOP and should have more congressional seats. It is that simple. Moron.
  • drpeeper
    !
    @PNWest Actually he did not. 58 Million voted against his total of 44 million in 1992. 50 million voted against his 47 Million in 1996.

    I am trying to show you, as a low info voter, how the total means zippo. The non democrats got more votes in those 2 years. Should they have won? No. I know it will never sink in as it is a bit above your intelligence.
  • drpeeper
    !
    I will go slow so you can understand.
    Since 1990, the popular vote has always been pretty close to the seats held in the House. This year it tilted to the Republicans by 10 %, but in the 2008 Democratic landslide it tilted to the Democrats about the same amount, exagerating a 10% popular vote advantage to a 20% advantage in seats.

    Other than these two years, the two numbers have reasonably represented each other. Now, from the late 40's through the late 80's, these numbers were 15 or 20%, and nearly always in favor of the Democrats. Wiki the 1978 House election for example. The statistical outliers are the 90's and 00's where representation was fairly close to the national popular vote.Quit crying foul over this fairly typical result.
  • View all 19 replies >
  • Thegrif
    !
    Here is an idea Washington.
    So what is there, something like 198 countries on the planet?
    America gives aid to 150 of them.
    STOP DOING THAT !!!!!!!!!!

    I am for helping people out. I mean if I have and you have not, I will give, my wife gives ALOT, my kids give.
    But if my home hits a bad patch in the road, then it is time to back off all that giving and tighten up.
    My mother use to tell me, everytime I started judging others or talking about others, "clean up the mess in your own backyard before you start tryin to clean up someone else's."
    Mom was right.
    Fix America, spend our money at home, aid our own people, feed our own hungy, pay all our own bills, then if anything is left over, sure lets help someone else.
    Until then America, STOP WRITING CHECKS to other countries and at the same time telling all of us that you have to cut Special Ed Programs, Head Start Programs, Teachers, etc.
    We pay the bills here, we pay you. Stop giving what we earned away. I know this is crazy Washington, but how bout looking like a hero here at home, to the people you pay the bills, one of which is your paycheck.
  • jaybebo84
    !
    The United States gave roughly $56.3B in foreign military and economic aid in 2012...this money could easily off-set the sequester cuts...
  • u
    Clarke12
    !
    $85 billion is a drop in the bucket to the numbers that have been thrown around since the 1st porkulus plan was passed. give me a break. cut the spending - no more fear mongering.
  • jaybebo84
    !
    Once again...the White House uses fearmongering to force the hand of Congress...didn't someone say this was a Republican tactic...nevertheless, I would hope Congress allows the cuts to go into effect...

    With the Obama Administration asking for more taxing, it is another show they have no intention to reign in spending...

    Obama stated they were going to look at every line item of spending...bull...they said they would be transparent...bull...they said they were going to help the small business owner and middle class...bull...all I hear is lies, lies and more lies...

    Obama put into effect the sequester...he now has to live with it...
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