Essay on The Sequester Policy

Submitted By SHELBYNENE102958513
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The Sequester Policy

What is the sequester policy that you have heard so much about? Well, the sequester policy is a big package of policy cuts that is a part of the BCA act (Budget Control Act). This act was passed in August of 2011. The budget cuts are supposed to equal over a trillion dollars total! This is supposed to continue from the year of 2013 to the year 2021 divided perfectly in the 9 year time period. They are also evenly split between defense spending and discretionary spending, which is spending on things like medicaid and social security. Just for the year of 2013, the cuts total cost came to a total of one hundred and nine billion dollars. (Suzy, 2012). The Sequester was actually designed in 2011 to force The Joint Select Comittee on The Super-committee to agree on a reduction package. The sequester will dramatically save a lot of money each year, saving 940 billion dollars and interest by 200 billion dollars. Nine tenths of the savings actually come from discretionary appropriations. Majority of the madatory programs, this including (social security, medicaid, food stamps, and verterans' benefits) are not included for the sequestation. Of course there are more that will be exempt, but those are the fast majority of them. Not only will the defense spending be cut by almost ten percent, while the majority of the non-exempt, non-defense spending by nearly seven percent, medicare by two percent, and other madatories by seven percent. (Understanding the Sequester. 2010, January 1). With the expiration of Bush's tax cuts and the payroll cut, this would have greatly resulted to a huge contraction, almost positively throwing the United States into yet, another recession. The two poilicies together became known as the fiscal cliff. (Mathew, D. 2013) The Sequester Policy is by far the most emblematic of Washington. Behind the demagoguer, lingered important issues like the proper size of our government, and about which of the people can disagree. Everyone agrees that this sequester policy’s is a horrible policy! The sequester is also renamed as a poison poll, devised as a deterrent so unpalatable that Capitol Hill's warring factions would be forced to make peace. Now the United States is just literally weeks from swallowing this poison pill. The fiscal cliff deal arrows on New Years Eve, postponing all the cuts for a solid two months, and are set to take effect March 1. (Altman, A. 2013). Chaiman Patty and the Senate Budget committee held a hearing on the impact of the sequestration and what it’s doing to the United States economy and our military’s preparedness. At this hearing, witnesses had testified about the impact the automatic cuts from sequestration are having on our national security, veterans, communitites, and families. The sequestration will affect military strategy and the military’s readiness. All of these cuts will cause a further alteration to our national military strategy and force-sizing conduct. The government being able to maintain a military force that is actually capable of fighting one major war and denying all the objectives of an aggressor in a different theater, you would think would seem to be the absolute minimum. But, the sequester policy will make it absolutely impossible to keep and to maintain this minimal standard. All of these defense cuts will unfortunately result in a less capable Joint Force that is not at all ready and that is less rebost than any time since the long, drawn out cold war. During this time of global uncertainty, The United States and our government really need to make sure to maintain a national defense that allows the United States to meet todays’ national threats, and to be well prepared for the threats that could come about in the near future. (Author, 2013, July 23). If you deprive the military of the ability to train, the ability to have flight hours for our pilots and our air crews, the ability of our people in the national security to have all the