Tyler Bivona
Dr. Kerr
EN 101-4
8 April 2013
2013
Budget Sequester and the Effects of it
One
of the biggest political headlines of late 2012 and early 2013 was the
uncertainty surrounding an impending budget sequestration and its effects on
the American public. The causes were
plain enough to see, a lack of funding in the federal budget that would force
cuts from virtually every part of the government. But the effects of these cuts are far more
unclear. The budget sequestration that
went into effect in March of 2013 could result in a loss of nearly a
million jobs in 2013 and 2014, would force
the government to cut a total of $1.2 trillion from the budget over the next
ten years, and on a more local level, would cause massive spending cuts that
would affect thousands of people in the state of Maryland.
The
sequester is, as described by Matt Smith of CNN, “A series of automatic,
across-the-board cuts to government agencies” (Smith). These cuts were originally supposed to go
into effect at the beginning of 2013, but they were put off until March by the
American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (Boles), which was passed in the early
morning hours on January 1, 2013. This
bill stemmed from Congress’ attempt to avoid the fiscal cliff, which would have
brought massive cuts to the government, leading the Department of Defense to
have to prepare to notify “All
800,000 of its civilian employees that some of them could be forced into unpaid
leave without a deal” (Weisman). Since
the extended deadline passed on March 1st, most of these cuts have gone into
effect.
As a result of these cuts, the government
has to cut a total of $1.2 trillion from the budgets for the next ten years
(Smith). These cuts are split “50-50
between defense and domestic discretionary spending” (Smith). Since half of
these cuts are coming from defense, it creates a wave that can majorly disrupt
the entire defense industry. A total of
$46 billion was cut from defense spending in 2013 alone, causing former Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta to remark that the cuts would “Cut sharply into military
readiness” (Smith) With these cuts comes a lack of money flow into the military
industrial complex, so huge companies like Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, and other
defense contractors have to furlough employees or even lay them off. However, not just the defense industry would
be hurt by these cuts.
With these cuts would bring the potential
for massive amounts of jobs lost.
According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, the sequester would cost the
United States economy nearly one million jobs in fiscal years 2013 and 2014
(Akbas). While this doesn’t mean that
one million people will suddenly find themselves out of work, it does mean that
the economy would create a million less jobs than it might otherwise have
created if the sequester didn’t go into effect.
Again, this only serves to hurt recovery from the recession that America
is still mired in by preventing people access to income, and it continues to
hurt the government’s budget, as those million jobless people who might have
gotten a job might have to resort to unemployment benefits to get by.
On a less national level, the sequester
cuts would have a profound impact on nearly every state, including
Maryland. In the White House’s report on
the effects of the sequester for the state of Maryland, these cuts were outlined
in detail. Some of these cuts include a loss of $14.4 million in funding for
primary and secondary education, and furloughs for nearly 46,000 civilian
Department of Defense employees, which would “Reduce gross pay by around $353.7
million in total”(United States). The
$14.4 million in education cuts would put around 200 teachers and aides at risk
of losing their jobs, as well as cutting funding to thirty schools in
Maryland. Not only would education be
hit hard in Maryland, but other programs, such as environmental protections for
clean air and water would lose funding.
The White House states that “Maryland would lose about $3.1 million in
environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality” (United
States). It certainly isn’t just
Maryland that is affected by the sequester, every state in the union would
suffer some form of funding cuts as a result of the sequester.
The sequester has been one of the most
talked-about political issues for the past six months, and with good
reason. The sequester will negatively
impact millions of Americans, and might even prove to hamper economic recovery
from the recession. With over a trillion
dollars slated to be cut from the federal budgets for the next ten years, and a
million jobs potentially being lost in the next two years alone, the sequester
is a specter that continues to hang over the United States’ economic recovery.
