With Democrats and Republicans still trading verbal jabs, but no actual budget negotiations on the horizon, the White House has released a state-by-state breakdown of budget cuts that will be imposed under the upcoming “sequester.”
The sequester consists of mandatory, across-the-board cuts to the federal budget that kick in if Congress and President Barack Obama can’t reach a deal to reduce spending by the end of this week. The sequester was part of a 2011 deal to raise the national debt limit.
President Obama has touted the impending cuts as the results of Republican intransigence and their unwillingness to raise taxes on the wealthy. GOP leaders have hit back by noting that the sequester was originally proposed by the White House. Some Republicans, including U.S. Representative Paul Ryan, have said the GOP would prefer sequester-imposed cuts to more tax increases.
If the sequester takes place, as it appears it will, here are a list of the five states hit hardest by military and education spending cuts:
Military readiness cuts (number of civilian defense-industry employees laid off):
- Virgina — 90,000
- California — 64,000
- Texas — 52,000
- Maryland — 46,000
- Georgia — 37,000
Education Aid (Federal dollars lost):
- California — $87.6 million
- Texas — $67.8 million
- Florida — $54.5 million
- New York — $42.7 million
- Illinois — $33.4 million
In addition to these cuts, funding will also be cut for Clean Air and Water regulations, army base operations, air force operations, children’s vaccinations, public health response, the STOP Violence Against Women program and nutrition assistance for seniors. A full list of the cuts for each state came be found at the White House website.
The opinions contained in this column are solely those of the writer.
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