Rapid Fire August 24, 2012: CBO on Sequestration

(Before It's News)

• The US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a short report [PDF] on the effects of sequestration, though they note that their estimates are not binding, as it’s the Administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that has authority to determine how cuts would be made. Their interpretation:

“The reductions in the caps for defense programs would be proportionately larger than the reductions in the caps for nondefense programs. The defense cap would shrink by $55 billion each year (which translates to a cut of 9.8% for 2014 and smaller percentages for subsequent years).

With the way they reckon automatic enforcement procedures would play out, they see the defense budget bottoming out at $501B in FY2014. The report lacks details though, as it does not spell out whether the Administration’s decision to exclude personnel expenses from the sequester is taken into account. (more…)

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