Govpro has offered opinions and views on the impact of sequestration from several officials, including AmyClaire Brusch, vice president in O’Neill and Associates’ federal relations practice, and Mattea Kramer, director of research at the National Priorities Project.
Here are the views on sequestration’s impact on government budgets from Michael McGill, a partner, and Peter Dungan, an associate, at the Washington-based Hogan Lovells law firm.
Govpro: Will state and local governments be affected by sequestration?
Michael McGill and Peter Dungan: Certainly. Unless averted again, sequestration will mean automatic, across-the-board cuts in federal civilian and military discretionary and mandatory funds starting soon after March 1. The most unique aspect of sequestration under the Budget Control Act of 2011 is not the magnitude of the spending cuts but the indiscriminate nature of them.
This so-called “meat cleaver” approach threatens funding under several major programs that benefit the states, from education and child nutrition to transportation infrastructure and public health to military readiness and law enforcement. Very few programs are exempt from the automatic cuts (Medicaid and food stamps are among them, while Medicare cuts cannot exceed 2 percent).
Keep reading this article at: http://govpro.com/federal/content/Sequest-McGill-20130305/
