OMB Report to the Congress on the Joint Committee Sequestration for Fiscal Year 2013

OMB Report to the Congress on the Joint Committee Sequestration for Fiscal Year 2013

On March 1, 2013 the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its report on the Joint Committee Sequestration for fiscal year 2013. In an introductory letter from Jeffrey D. Zients to the Speaker of the House, the Deputy Director for Management stated the following: "This report provides calculations of the amounts and percentages by which various budgetary resources are required to be reduced, and a listing of the reductions required for each non-exempt budget account. [...] Specifically, OMB calculates that, over the course ofthe fiscal year, the sequestration requires a 7.8 percent reduction in non-exempt defense discretionary funding and a 5.0 percent reduction in non-exempt nondefense discretionary funding. The sequestration also requires reductions of 2.0 percent to Medicare, 5.1 percent to other non-exempt nondefense mandatory programs, and 7.9 percent to non-exempt defense mandatory programs. Because these cuts must be achieved over only seven months instead of 12, the effective percentage reductions will be approximately 13 percent for non-exempt defense programs and 9 percent for non-exempt nondefense programs. The cuts required by sequestration will be deeply destructive to national security, domestic investments, and core Government functions. While the Department of Defense will shift funds where possible to minimize the impact on war-fighting capabilities and critical military readiness, sequestration will result in a reduction in readiness of many non-deployed units, delays in investments in new equipment, cutbacks in equipment repairs and needed facilities maintenance, disruptions in military research and development efforts, significant reductions in weapons programs, and furloughs of most civilian employees for a significant amount of time."

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