President Obama, Woodward reported, signed off on the proposal, and the result of the debt ceiling negotiations - the Budget Control Act - created a congressional "Super Committee" to reach an agreement on deficit reduction and included the spending cuts in the sequester as a fallback if the committee failed.
Woodward also accused the president of "moving the goal posts" by demanding that a replacement for the sequester include a balance of spending cuts and new revenue. But that was not the deal he made. Woodward explained that the final deal reached on the debt ceiling "included an agreement that there would be no tax increases in the sequester.
The damage will accumulate in less visible ways, as irrational reductions in public spending impede economic growth and job creation; reduce investments in education, infrastructure and scientific research; and further disrupt the routines of a modern democracy. The longer the sequester remains in place, the more harm is inflicted. Those who relish using a sequester—some House Republicans, along with a gaggle of radio talk-show hosts, editorial writers and cable television commentators—say this is one small step toward reducing U.
But if the goal were really debt reduction, it would be easy to get a bipartisan deal that would lower the debt enough to meet the original target set by the Simpson-Bowles fiscal commission, with roughly a third coming from revenue. The insistence on deep discretionary-spending reductions while calling for even deeper tax cuts shows that the sequester is not about money but about taking a meat ax to government as we know it. The tactics to achieve that goal—from the sequester to the threat to shut down the government in late March to the next confrontation over the debt limit—have made basic governance a huge challenge for the executives managing programs and agencies, nearly all of whom lack a clear sense of how much money they will have from one day to the next.
Planning, recruiting personnel and drafting long-term contracts have become impossible in areas from cybersecurity to embassy security to medical research to homeland security, damaging not industries rife with waste, fraud and abuse but critical services. If only it were all about money! Related Books. Mann , and Trevor Potter. Mann Senior Fellow - Governance Studies. Norman J. I have news for him: the moment that he and virtually every elected Democrat in Washington signed off on the terms of the current arrangement, it was the last word on taxes.
That debate is over. Boehner Blames the Senate. On Feb. Both Senate votes were on motions to invoke cloture, a procedure that would bring an end to debate and allow a vote on the legislation.
Either a budget is passed by Congress or a Continuing Resolution is required. As of today, I see zero possibility of a fix on on the CR. For you.
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