THE RESET: One fiscal crisis gives way to another

March 1, 2013 @ 10:29 am


President Barack Obama speaks to reporters in the White House briefing room in Washington, Friday, March 1, 2013, following after meeting with congressional leaders regarding the automatic spending cuts. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) | Zoom

(AP) - If you've missed the latest fiscal melodrama gripping our nation's capital, don't worry. Stay tuned. More nail-biting episodes are on the way.

Automatic government-wide spending cuts _ called a "sequester" in bureaucratic jargon _ of roughly $85 billion will start kicking in now that President Barack Obama and Congress have failed to meet a Friday deadline for striking a deal to avert or soften the reductions.

"The pain will be real," Obama told reporters, saying the impasse saddles Americans with "a series of dumb, arbitrary cuts."

The current budget crisis comes just two months after tense year-end negotiations yielded a New Year's Day deal keeping the government from plunging over a "fiscal cliff" of huge spending cuts and tax increases.

The next self-inflicted panic deadline is the March 27 expiration of stopgap legislation to fund the entire government.

"I'm hopeful that we won't have to deal with the threat of a government shutdown while we're dealing with the sequester at the same time," House Speaker John Boehner said Friday after a White House meeting between Obama and congressional leaders failed to produce a breakthrough.

Another deadline comes May 18, when legislation permitting the Treasury to borrow above the current $16.4 trillion debt limit runs out. Failing to raise it further threatens a first-ever default on the government's debt.

It took over 200 years for government borrowing, begun to help finance the Revolutionary War, to climb above $1 trillion, which it did in President Ronald Reagan's first term.

By Friday, the national debt stood at a whopping $16.61 trillion.

After the debt limit, another big deadline comes Oct. 1 when the government's new fiscal year begins. If new spending bills aren't passed by then for every department and agency, Congress must yet again pass emergency stopgap legislation.

It's no apocalypse, Obama said of the government sequester now taking hold. "It's just dumb."

___

Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
More National News
Top Stories

  • This Is Reality
    For Seattle's Jason and Molly Mesnick, life is a far cry from the glamour of the 'The Bachelor'

  • Pink Protest
    Taxi drivers are upset about unlicensed ride-sharing companies in Seattle like Lyft

  • Busted
    DNA on Gatorade bottles helps bust Washington's biggest copper theft ever
MyNorthwest.com - Purpose of Comments statement
Bonneville Media encourages site users to express their opinions by posting comments. Our goal is to maintain a civil dialogue in which readers feel comfortable. At times, the comments can descend to personal attacks. Please do not engage in such behavior. We encourage your thoughtful comments which: have a positive and constructive tone, are on topic, are respectful toward others and their opinions. Bonneville reserves the right to remove comments which do not conform to these criteria.

Comments (17)


  • Add A Comment

  • hnuh wrote...
    02-20-2013 0bama's 'open door'
    February 20, 2013 10:30 am
    0bama's door is open to anyone, anyone, anyone... as long as that person marches in the strictest lockstep with 0bama's holistic ideological regime. No deviations permitted, none. None. None.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Had Obama's door been open and the Dear Leader truely open toward a solution to the problems he created,
    February 20, 2013 11:02 am
    we would not be having these problems and several TRILLION dollars less in debt!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    If anything I see more companies trying to find ways to shed employees . . .
    February 20, 2013 11:08 am
    Your "Mittens" is no longer a politician. Nor is President Bush but you ch are still a moron Left wing Parrot and always will be!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    "open door"
    February 21, 2013 5:38 am
    Suure. It's only open if you goose-step in line w/ everything Owebama dictates. The guy is a liar, a thief and has zero credibility.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    "Cuts"
    February 22, 2013 12:22 pm
    The cuts are acutally just a reduction in proposed spending increases, so they are not CUTS at all. Plus, we are supposed to believe that 10% of the $850 billion Owebama wasted on "stimulus" is somehow going to be devastating? Sure. Right. Only the stupid beleive this. But then the DimoRats depend on stupid voters for their survival. Just look here for examples: CH, wronway, spurts, assiah....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }