Analysis

Four Reasons Why Sequestration Will Get Worse in 2014


Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–November 21, 2013.  Sequestration is already a disaster for the American people, but according to a new report released today by the Center for American Progress, a number of factors will make the impact of sequestration worse in 2014.

“Sequestration cuts have already damaged our economy and eliminated hundreds of thousands of jobs, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said Harry Stein, author of the report and Associate Director for Fiscal Policy at CAP. “If Congress allows this misguided austerity to continue, the impacts of these cuts will grow far more severe for the American people.”

Stein’s report released today outlines four factors making next year’s sequester even more damaging than this year’s. First, and most simply, the sequester makes larger cuts in 2014 than it did in 2013. Second, many of the cuts that were legally made this year have not actually been implemented yet. Third, one-time fixes that mitigated sequestration’s worst impacts in 2013 cannot be used again next year. Fourth, sequestration made cuts to little-noticed but critical functions of government—cuts that will be particularly devastating if they are not reversed soon.

If sequestration is allowed to continue through all of fiscal year 2014, which began on October 1, 2013, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, estimates that 800,000 more jobs will be lost. Another year of sequestration would reduce economic growth by 0.6 percent of gross domestic product, or GDP. The key pillars of American prosperity and security would come apart as sequestration hollows out education, research, infrastructure, public safety, and national defense. In short, we cannot afford another year of sequestration.

Read the report: How Sequestration Gets Worse in 2014 by Harry Stein

Related video: 4 Ways Sequestration Gets Worse Next Year

See also: Replacing the Sequester by Michael Linden

Source: americanprogress.org

 


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