Across-the-board spending cuts, called  sequestration, are now in effect. Sequestration will cut domestic spending on things like education, national parks, air traffic control, and consumer safety protections by about 5 percent and most defense spending by 7.8 percent, according to OMB estimates (many entitlements, including Social Security and Medicaid, will be exempt).

This webpage is devoted to tracking both projected and actual impacts on affected federal programs. It includes original reports and analysis from the Center for Effective Government, as well as links to reports in the media and selected organizations.

What’s New?

Sequestration Standoff

2/26/13: As March 1 approaches, across-the-board federal spending cuts, called sequestration, appear almost certain to occur. Republicans and Democrats are not negotiating to resolve the looming crisis. Neither seems sufficiently motivated to compromise.

• Government Executive: Obama: ‘We Can Manage Through’ Sequester (3/4/13)
• The Hill: House government funding bill seeks to soften sequester’s pain (3/4/13)
• Stan Collendar: Why The Sequester Really Happened (Hint It Has Nothing To Do With The Deficit) (3/4/13)
• Politico: Democrats struggle to find next tax triumph (3/4/13)
• CEPR: Republicans Are Not Telling the Truth When They Say that Government Spending Is Out of Control (3/4/13)
• New York Times: G.O.P. Clings to One Thing It Agrees On: Spending Cuts (3/3/13)
• New York Times: Seeking Compromise, President Reaches Out to the Rank and File (3/3/13)
• White House: OMB Report to the Congress on the Joint Committee Sequestration for Fiscal Year 2013 (3/1/13)
• Huffington Post: Federal Furlough Notices Go Out As Sequestration Takes Effect (3/1/13)
• New York Times: Obama Signals He’d Let Cuts Stand to Avoid U.S. Shutdown (3/1/13)
• Reuters: Fiscal talks fail, U.S. stumbles toward steep budget cuts (3/1/13)
• Bloomberg News: Spending Cuts Signal Austere Future for Domestic Programs (3/1/13)
• National Journal: How the Sequester Could Play Out (2/28/13)
• Roll Call: Senate Democrats Not Ready to Risk Shutdown (2/28/13)
• New York Times: Boehner Halts Talks on Cuts, and House G.O.P. Cheers (2/28/13)
• Campaign for America’s Future: Rep. John Conyers Introduces Bill To Repeal Sequester (2/28/13)
• Washington Post: How are some agencies avoiding likelihood of sequester furloughs? (2/28/13)
• Politico: Sequestration: Senate fails in last-chance bid to avoid sequester (2/28/13)
• Washington Post: How Republicans see the sequester (2/28/13)
• USA Today: Senate rejects sequester alternatives (2/28/13)
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Senate Republican Proposal Fails to Address Key Sequestration Problems (2/28/13)
• Reuters: Analysis: Cuts unlikely to deliver promised budget savings (2/28/13)
• Washington Post: How both sides really view the sequester (2/28/13)
• Politico: Sequestration: Americans yawn at budget cut hype (2/28/13)
• Chronicle of Philanthropy: Nonprofits Urged to Watch Washington Budget Debate (2/27/13)
• Federal News Radio: Before furloughs, agencies must negotiate terms with unions (2/27/13)
• New York Times: What Both Sides Have Offered to Avoid the Sequester (2/27/13)
• The Hill: Key House conservatives say they can support measure to fund government (2/27/13)
• The Hill: U.S. Chamber opposed to Senate Democrats’ sequester replacement bill (2/27/13
• Pacific Standard: The Strange Game Theory of the Sequester (2/27/13)
• ABC: Sequester Timeline: When Will the Cuts Be Felt? (2/26/13)
• The Hill: Reid: Sequester should go forward unless GOP gives ground on taxes (2/26/13)
• Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs: Eliminate the Sequester (2/25/13)

 Take Action

• National Collaboration for Youth: Act Today to Stop the Federal Sequester (2/27/13)
• Campaign for America’s Future: Disarm the Austerity Bomb. Repeal the Sequester (2/27/13)

Highlighted Analysis

• Center for Effective Government: Mitigating the Impact of a Temporary Sequester (11/2/12)

Background

• Federal News Radio: Sequestration Tracker: Guide to agency furloughs (3/4/13)
• CEPR: Republicans Are Not Telling the Truth When They Say that Government Spending Is Out of Control (3/4/13)
• National Priorities Project: Sequestration & Fiscal Cliff II: Demand a Better Budget (3/1/13)
• Congressional Budget Office: Automatic Reductions in Government Spending — aka Sequestration (2/28/13)
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: The Two Sequestrations Coming Next Month (2/26/13)
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Sequestration’s Impact: It’s Real (2/25/13)
• National Journal: If the Sequester Happens, What’s Getting the Ax? (2/24/13)
• Bipartisan Policy Center: Now It’s Time for Sequester Anxiety (2/22/13)
• New York Times: Answers to Questions on Capital’s Top Topic (2/21/13)
• About.com: How Bad is This Sequestration Thing? (2/18/13)
• White House: Fact Sheet: Examples of How the Sequester Would Impact Middle Class Families, Jobs and Economic Security (2/8/13)
• House Appropriations Committee Democrats: Report on Sequestration (2/13/13)
• Washington Post: 10 Questions and Answers During the Sequestration Period (2/7/13)
• Washington Post: Federal Agencies Prepare for Furloughs (2/5/13)

Economics

• Los Angeles Times: Deficit reduction target reached, but no one’s happy (3/4/13)
• Center for Economic Policy Research: Robert Samuelson Identifies the Sequester Culprit: John Kennedy (3/4/13)
• Economic Policy Institute: GOP sequester position derails recovery (again) (2/28/13)
• The Hill: Economy shows anemic growth last quarter (2/28/13)
• Washington Post: Bernanke: The sequester could make it harder to reduce the deficit, not easier (2/27/13)
• Washington Post: AFL-CIO: Time to repeal the sequester (2/27/13)
• New York Times: Austerity Kills Government Jobs as Cuts to Budgets Loom (2/26/13)
• Jared Bernstein: Austerity That Would Make a European Policy Maker Proud (2/26/13)
• Washington Post: Sequester will sock a vulnerable economy (2/26/13)
• Economic Policy Institute: The importance of revenue revisited: Minimizing the drag of austerity (1/24/13)

 Agency Specific

White House/OMB

• OMB: Issuance of the Sequestration Order Pursuant To Section 251A ofthe Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as Amended (3/1/13)
• OMB: OMB Report to the Congress on the Joint Committee Sequestration for Fiscal Year 2013 (3/1/13)
• OMB: Agency Responsibilities for Implementation of Potential Joint Committee Sequestration (2/27/13)
• White House: Fact Sheet: Examples of How the Sequester Would Impact Middle Class Families, Jobs and Economic Security (2/8/13)
• OMB: Planning for Uncertainty with Respect to Fiscal Year 2013 Budgetary Resources (1/14/13)
• OMB: OMB Report Pursuant to the Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012 (394 pages, 1.4 mb) (9-14-12)

  EPA

• Huffington Post: EPA Employees To Face Up To 13 Furlough Days (3/4/13)
• National Journal: EPA Funding Reductions Have Kneecapped Environmental Enforcement (3/3/13)
• Huffington Post Green: Budget Sequester: Environmental Effects Could Include Layoffs And Regulation Shortfalls (3/1/13)
• Mother Jones: 6 Ways the Sequester Will Mess Up the Environment (2/27/13)
• American Lung Association: The Sequester’s Bad News for Breathers  (2/27/13)
• Federal News Radio: Union: EPA plans agencywide furlough days under sequestration (2/21/13)
• EPA: Potential Impact of Sequestration (2/6/13)

 

State and Local

• Governing Magazine: Full Coverage of Sequestration’s Impact on States and Localities (3/4/13)
• Coalition on Human Needs: 50-State and National Sequestration Fact Sheets (3/1/13)
• Pew Center on the States: Federal Spending as a Percent of State GDP (2/27/13)
• Washington Post: Impact of budget cuts depends on where you live and who you are (2/26/13)
• Washington Post: White House Estimates of State-by-state Impacts of Sequestration (2/24/13)