The House Budget Committee last week unanimously approved legislation to require the President to submit a report to Congress detailing how a sequestration would affect programs throughout the federal budget. The bill requires the report to be submitted within 30 days of its enactment. The Senate passed a farm bill last month with an amendment requiring a similar report.
Because the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction failed to reach agreement on legislation last year, the Budget Control Act requires a sequestration process that will make “automatic” cuts totaling $1.2 trillion by 2021. The cuts will begin next year, and many policymakers have begun to question how the Office of Management and Budget would administer them.
The Concord Coalition has urged elected officials not to weaken or abandon the automatic cuts without approving an alternative that would deliver at least the same amount of long-term deficit reduction.
External links:
House Budget Committee
House Budget Committee Democrats
