Sequestration and the Pentagon Budget
Automatic budget reductions, if allowed to go into effect on January 2, 2013, as scheduled, would fall heavily on the Defense Department. Under “sequestration,” mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011, passed by Congress to resolve the debt ceiling crisis, $1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts would be made in domestic and defense spending. The reductions would take effect over the next 10 years, unless Congress reaches a budget compromise by the end of the year. The Defense share would be 50 percent, even though national defense is 20 percent of the total federal budget, and would total $500 billion…
