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Sequester

By Jeralyn, Section Economy
Posted on Fri Mar 01, 2013 at 10:21:16 AM EST
Tags: sequester (all tags)
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Apparently, we are hours away from a sequester. Obama is meeting with House leaders. No agreement is expected.

If the sequester kicks in, the New York Times says this is what will happen. What I learned from that article: Nothing. It seems nobody knows (which I guess was the point of the article.)

Are cuts coming to law enforcement? Will there be fewer arrests? Will the Bureau of Prisons budget be cut so that more prisoners have to be released? I'd bet not.

What do you think the cuts will mean?

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    Sequester | 10 comments (10 topical)

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    And (5.00 / 3) (#1)
    by jbindc on Fri Mar 01, 2013 at 11:25:09 AM EST
    The politicians left town yesterday. Obviously no big deal to them, despite all the scare tactics put out by the White House in recent weeks.

    Despite a steady drumbeat of dire warnings from the White House about the sequester's impact on jobs and economic growth, financial markets reacted with a yawn. On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed down a bit after surging within 25 points of its all-time high, reached in October 2007.

    Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it would delay furloughs of agency workers until after the April 15 tax-filing deadline, providing another reason to doubt that the cuts would hit hard and fast enough to change GOP sentiment.
    I think it means weeks of (5.00 / 8) (#3)
    by Anne on Fri Mar 01, 2013 at 11:42:36 AM EST
    one scary headline and news report after another, getting people so nervous about the apocalypse that it will provide more opportunities to push changes to the safety net programs.  

    And I'm so looking forward to the sequester meeting the next debt limit crisis so the politicians and the media can take the whole manufactured thing to Defcon 5.

    This is not leadership - it is governance malpractice - and it's across both political parties.

    I'm still waiting for someone in the media to just ask, "why?"  Why do we have to do this if no one wants to do it?  Why can't the Congress repeal the law?

    I guess it's a good thing I'm not holding my breath.

    I (5.00 / 6) (#5)
    by lentinel on Fri Mar 01, 2013 at 12:28:55 PM EST
    have never felt more than I feel at this moment that we have a one party system with two heads conjoined to a monstrous carcass.

    Parent
    In your world, Jeralyn.... (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by magster on Fri Mar 01, 2013 at 03:56:19 PM EST
    will there be less money for court appointed counsel. I don't know how they could do that given it's a constitutional right, so fewer prosecutions?

    Furloughed magistrates? clerks?

    A possible answer (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by jbindc on Fri Mar 01, 2013 at 04:15:58 PM EST
    to your question (discounting any hyperbole)

    When combined with an emerging decline in bankruptcy filing fees, these staffing cuts would have a significant and devastating impact on the operations of the federal courts and the federal bar. How bad would it be? The following outcomes are already being forecast:

    Hours of operation in the clerks' offices in the federal courts would have to be sharply reduced. Filings and mot