For the past several months, automatic across-the-board spending cuts have damaged our economy and national security. These cuts, known as the sequester, were never supposed to happen. Congress always planned to replace the sequester with a smarter debt-reduction package. Then Congress did, in fact, pass another debt-reduction package at the end of 2012, commonly known as the fiscal cliff deal. But unfortunately, the savings from the fiscal cliff deal were not counted toward replacing the sequester.
Fixing the sequester to account for the debt reduction in the fiscal cliff deal would lay the foundation for a stable federal budget and a strong economic recovery. Even better, the benefits of applying the fiscal cliff ’s deficit reduction to the sequester would flow disproportionately to critical investments such as education, research, and infrastructure. These sectors have borne the brunt of recent budget cuts, but they are exactly where we should be investing to rebuild the economy.
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