User:RoyGoldsmith/2013 Sequestration

The 2013 Sequestration is the drastic, "across the board" spending cuts enacted by the Budget Control Act of 2011 as a goad to Congress and delayed by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. It is due to go into effect on March 1, 2013, and, unless Congress acts, will cut $85 million by October 1, 2013, half in defense and half in domestic programs.

Legislative history
On August 2, 2011, Congress passed the Budget Control Act of 2011 as part of an agreement to resolve the debt-ceiling crisis. The Act provided for a Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the "super committee") to produce legislation by late November that would decrease the deficit by $1.2 trillion over ten years. When the super committee failed to act, another part of the BCA went into effect. This directed automatic across-the-board cuts (known as "sequestrations") split evenly between defense and domestic spending, beginning on January 2, 2013.

The sequestration became a major part of the fiscal cliff. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, signed into law on January 2, 2013, eliminated much of the tax side of the fiscal cliff but only delayed the reduction in spending due to budget sequestration for two months.

Timeline

 * August 2, 2011: The President signed the Budget Control Act of 2011. This act provided that, if the Joint Select Committee did not produce bipartisan legislation, across-the-board spending cuts would take effect on January 2, 2013.
 * January 2, 2013: Obama signed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, delaying the sequestration until March 1, 2013.