TruthOut10
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- Dec 3, 2012
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The United States is rapidly approaching March 1, the date on which the automatic spending cuts put in place by the summer 2011 debt ceiling deal will begin taking effect. There is little indication that Congress will avert the cuts as it did in January, as Republican leaders have thus far been unwilling to negotiate with President Obama and Senate Democrats.
Congress is currently on recess until next Monday, leaving just five legislative days until the automatic cuts known as sequestration will take effect. Heres a breakdown of why the sequester was created and what it will mean for programs facing cuts and the nations overall economic recovery:
Why the sequester was created. The sequester was a result of the GOPs wrangling over the debt ceiling in the summer of 2011, when Republican leaders who had previously passed clean debt increases 19 times under President Bush demanded spending cuts as the price for averting a costly default. On the brink of default, Congress passed the Budget Control Act, which enacted immediate spending cuts and created a supercommittee tasked with striking a grand bargain to reduce the deficit. Republicans walked away from the committee after refusing to consider tax increases on the wealthy, setting sequestration into motion. The sequester, which cuts from both domestic and defense spending, was designed to be painful enough that both sides would negotiate to avert it.
Your Guide To The Looming Spending Cuts: Where They Came From And What They Will Mean | ThinkProgress
Congress is currently on recess until next Monday, leaving just five legislative days until the automatic cuts known as sequestration will take effect. Heres a breakdown of why the sequester was created and what it will mean for programs facing cuts and the nations overall economic recovery:
Why the sequester was created. The sequester was a result of the GOPs wrangling over the debt ceiling in the summer of 2011, when Republican leaders who had previously passed clean debt increases 19 times under President Bush demanded spending cuts as the price for averting a costly default. On the brink of default, Congress passed the Budget Control Act, which enacted immediate spending cuts and created a supercommittee tasked with striking a grand bargain to reduce the deficit. Republicans walked away from the committee after refusing to consider tax increases on the wealthy, setting sequestration into motion. The sequester, which cuts from both domestic and defense spending, was designed to be painful enough that both sides would negotiate to avert it.
Your Guide To The Looming Spending Cuts: Where They Came From And What They Will Mean | ThinkProgress