Mayors Oppose Federal Budget Sequestration
By Mike Brown
August 6, 2012
A full year after President Obama signed the Budget Control Act requiring automatic, across-the-board cuts in federal spending if the Congress failed to produce a budget-balancing alternative by the end of 2012, little progress has been made in efforts to craft such an alternative, and the potential impact of $1.2 trillion in budget cuts over the next ten years is becoming a much more visible issue in Washington. As it now stands, beginning on January 2, automatic cuts of $109.3 billion will be made each year from 2013 to 2021. These cuts will be evenly divided between national defense budget functions and all other budget functions.
In 2013, the $54.7 billion in nondefense cuts will be made in both discretionary programs (cut $38.5 billion) and mandatory programs (cut $16.2 billion). If the President opts to exempt some or all military personnel from sequestration, the $54.7 billion defense cut would be focused on the remaining defense accounts and could amount to 9.5 percent of those accounts. The Defense Department is arguing that the sequestration of funds at this level will compromise the nation's defense capabilities.
The 80th Annual Conference of Mayors in Orlando produced two policy resolutions seeking an alternative to sequestration. The first, titled “Supporting Defense Transition and U.S. Cities,” focuses on the impact of sequestration on defense spending and the potential consequences of defense cuts on the workforces and economies of U.S. cities. In it, the Conference of Mayors encourages Congress and the Administration to:
Be cognizant of the impact of any realignment of the defense budget on the cities and metro areas in which defense industrial activity plays a significant role in the workforce and economy;
Ensure that any realignment of defense spending that occurs does not result in significant and/or abrupt dislocations in workforces that are involved, directly or indirectly, in defense-related work;
Support the development of alternative applications of defense technologies and alternative uses of defense facilities that have the potential to open new opportunities for business and job development;
Establish an open channel of communication with the nation's mayors on continuing efforts to maintain stability in the local economies in which defense-related activity plays a role; and
Agree on a budget for FY 2013 and a plan to reduce federal budget deficits without resorting to the sequestration process to be imposed in January 2013 under the Budget Control Act – sequestration that ignores both short-term and long-term policy impacts to health and welfare of our military forces and our Nation's security.
In the second resolution, titled “Calling on Congressional Leaders and the President to Work in the Spirit of Compromise to Approve a Comprehensive, Balanced Deficit Reduction Plan Immediately,” the Conference of Mayors “calls on leaders in Washington to return immediately to the negotiating table in order to reach a comprehensive, balanced deficit reduction agreement, in the spirit of the Simpson-Bowles Commission, that will foster long-term economic growth and prevent the implementation of a draconian budget sequestration that ignores the nation's priorities.”
The full text of both resolutions can be found on the Conference of Mayors website at http://usmayors.org/resolutions/80th_Conference/.
|
