President Obama on Sunday released a manifesto of government services that would suffer should the Budget Control Act of 2011, known as the sequester or sequestration cuts, will have on the American economy. Last week the president said that these cuts would cause a massive loss of civil services, and that teachers, police, and fire fighters, along with FBI agents, Pentagon employees, and air traffic controls could lose their jobs. The $85 billion is a proposed reduction to the future increases in spending on the military and Medicare to help reduce deficit spending which has been in excess of $1.3 trillion over the last five years.
White House details of sequester cuts
The president said that Republicans are to blame if this disaster comes to pass and must be willing to compromise just a little on his balanced approach to reducing the deficit. Republicans have called the president’s manifesto a sham and say that the cuts are miniscule compared to the federal deficit Obama and Democrats continue to run and that federal spending will still be more than last year. Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-Ohio) says they have already given the president the tax increases he demanded, and he must now provide the spending cuts, but President Obama replies that it was not enough and Republicans continue to protect the rich who can afford to pay more. He once again demands more tax revenues by closing certain "loopholes" before agreeing to any spending cuts.
The Senate’s latest continuing resolutions that have funded the federal government for the last four years without passing a budget is set to expire March 27 and Republicans say they will wait and see if the Senate continues spending over $1 trillion in deficits or abides by a budget.
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