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Click here to read the entire article published by AFGE.
White House: Sequestration Is Bad Policy: The White House last week issued a 394-page report detailing the cuts to government programs if sequestration – automatic across the board cuts in both defense and non-defense expenses – were to take place. The administration warned that the cuts would be deeply destructive to national security and core government functions and are not a responsible way to reduce the deficit. Congress last August agreed to sequestration after they were unable to come up with a plan to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
“Sequestration is a blunt and indiscriminate instrument,” the White House said. “It is not the responsible way for our nation to achieve deficit reduction.”
AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. said sequestration will devastate government programs and services to the American people. He urges lawmakers to work toward a plan to avert sequestration and to resist calls to exploit the crisis by making cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or federal retirement. Sequestration is completely avoidable. If the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy 2% are allowed to return to the Clinton rates, almost $1 trillion would be raised, eliminating the need for sequestration altogether. If it was not for these irresponsible tax cuts, this $1 trillion hole would not even exist.
“These cuts would mean hiring freezes, furloughs and staffing reductions at the Border Patrol, Bureau of Prisons, Transportation Security Administration and other agencies that keep America safe,” NP Cox said. “The Defense Department would see delays in new equipment and facility investments, cutbacks in equipment repairs and reductions in base services for military families. The USDAs ability to inspect food processing plants and prevent foodborne illnesses would be compromised, as would the EPAs ability to protect the water we drink and the air we breathe. Critical housing programs and food assistance for low-income families would be cut.”
The following are estimates of the 2013 across-the-board cuts by agency. Exempt from sequestration are funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the CIA, military personnel, and most mandatory domestic spending such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Click here to view the entire report.
Defense Department: $54.66 billion
Department of Veterans Affairs: Exempt
Capitol Police: $28 million
Food Safety and Inspection Service: $87 million
Forest Service: $431 million
Department of Commerce: $44 million
Bureau of the Census: $79 million
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: $413 million
Department of Education: $4.1 billion
Department of Energy: $2.4 billion
Department of Health and Human Services: $15.4 billion
National Institutes of Health: $2.5 billion
Food and Drug Administration: $319 million
Department of Homeland Security: $105 million
Citizenship and Immigration Services: $205 million
Transportation Security Administration: $643 million
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center: $23 million
Immigration and Customs Enforcement: $478 million
Customs and Border Protection: $955 million
United States Coast Guard: $566 million
Federal Emergency Management Agency: $957 million
Department of Housing and Urban Development: $3.6 billion
Department of the Interior: $1.3 billion
Department of Justice: $1.2 billion
FBI: $742 million
Federal Prison System: $549 million
Department of Labor: $2.2 billion
Department of State: $2.6 billion
Department of Transportation: $2.2 billion
Department of the Treasury: $1.8 billion
Corps of Engineers: $622 million
Environmental Protection Agency: $716 million
General Services Administration: $22 million
NASA: $1.4 billion
National Science Foundation: $586 million
Office of Personnel Management: $15 million
Small Business Administration: $75 million
Social Security Administration: $467 million
District of Columbia: $35 million
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: $30 million
Nuclear Regulatory Commission: $86 million