The Sequester: Shooting Yourself in the Foot, American Style

Despite what one might think, Pope leaving the Vatican isn’t the biggest news of the day. This last day of February is also the day many have dreaded across the pond: the sequester kicks in tonight, proving that the US democracy is in dire need of a much better system in place for its fiscal decisions.

The Sequester
The sequester, broadly speaking, is a set of agreements between both sides of the Congress that makes certain fiscal cuts across the board inevitable, should the Democrats and the Republicans not be able to come to a consensus. The thing started back last year with the so-called Fiscal Cliff, when a similar deadline has been put in place by the warring parties in order to spur their meeting halfway. The Fiscal Cliff has been narrowly averted – or rather, postponed – in the form of the sequester. And now that neither House of Representatives nor Senate have been able to find the middle ground, it’s official: there is no compromise, and there is going to be no stay of this self-imposed execution for the US federal government.

On midnight tonight, USD 85 billion will be automatically cut from various budgets across the administrative board, a set of cuts that could have been avoided if only both sides were eager to actually come to a decision. Some of the more drastic cuts will affect Defense Department, Justice Department and other governmental agencies, slashing a total of 5% as far as domestic agencies go and 8% as far as the military-related agencies are concerned.

What does it really mean to the people of the US, though? The proposed cuts are not extremely drastic, despite what the President stated a few days back. According to Obama, the cuts may go as far as letting convicts and criminals go free. However, this sentiment is not substantiated by fact-checking agency PolitiFact, whose editor Bill Adair stated earlier today, „From what we could tell, [it was] a vast exaggeration to equate that with letting criminals go, wording that really implies opening the prison doors and letting people stream out.” That said, Adair is adamant that the cuts will, in fact, mean quite a few spending reductions in many corners of the country. Good news though: sequester-enforced cuts are not obligatory in the way that someone from high-up decides what’s on the chopping block. Instead, heads of various services and departments are given targets to reduce expenditure to, and have to figure out how to do that in the least painful way possible (i.e., hopefully without laying off people).

The sequester itself doesn’t mean that the economy will be drastically affected in the coming weeks, but will have a larger knock-on effect later this year. On top of that, the inability of the Congress to come to a reasonable solution may actually have a much more adverse and immediate effect of a government shutdown.

The G-Shutdown
America is well versed in partisan politics, and there’s a specific set of mechanisms in place, should its legislative body (Senate and Congress) fail to agree on a budget to finance itself (i.e., the government) in the next fiscal year. This worst-case scenario is almost here, since the fiscal year’s 2nd quarter ends at the end of March. If by that time government agencies have not been properly budgeted by the legislature, the US government goes into a shutdown mode, wherein only the most basic services (like police, fire fighters, prisons, army etc.) are still running. All the other federal officials and employees are involuntarily furloughed (put on a forced unpaid leave with no certain return date) until such time as the decision is made, which may take a few days – or a whole fiscal year. Luckily, things are not as dire yet, and there’s still time to make amends. Republicans are already planning a vote next week to pass the bill that would help the government to finance itself up to the end of the fiscal year, which in America falls on September 30, 2013.

In fact, both Republicans and Democrats have been trying to find some solution to the looming cuts (which are necessary to fill the gaping hole of USD 11.7 trillion in debt) by proposing several bills, the latest of which (by Democrats) allowed for USD 110 bln in cuts and revenues from tax increases. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid claimed this bill would be „a balanced plan, fully paid for,” adding that their proposal „would reduce the deficit by making smart spending cuts.” Whether it would be so is moot point though, since Senate Minority Leader (Republicans) Mitch McConnell said that „It isn’t a plan at all, it’s a gimmick,” shutting the whole proposal down. It’s that type of partisan tug-of-war that kept the Congress from achieving the elusive goal of the agreed-upon cuts, without which USA may go back into the economic crisis mode.

The Prayer
It’s also the reason for the prayer offered earlier today on the Senate floor by Chaplain Barry Black. His words are pretty reflective of the mood that set around the Capitol and elsewhere around the US tonight, and it goes like this:

As we anticipate an across-the-board budget cuts across our land, we still expect to see your goodness prevail. … O God, and save us from ourselves.

Let’s hope that this time around, God will indeed help those who help themselves.

VOCABULARY
to dread – bać się
sequester – sekwestr, zajęcie nieruchomości/majątku
to kick in – pot. wchodzić w życie
dire – skrajny
broadly speaking – mówiąc ogólnie
fiscal cuts – cięcia fiskalne (budżetowe)
across the board – wszędzie
inevitable – nieuchronny
to come to a consensus – osiągnąć konsensus
so-called – tak zwany
deadline – termin ostateczny
warring – wojujący
to spur – ponaglić, przyspieszyć
to meet halfway – znaleźć kompromis
narrowly – ledwo, zaledwie
to avert – zapobiec
to postpone – odłożyć na później
to find the middle ground – znaleźć płaszczyznę porozumienia
a stay of execution – wstrzymanie kaźni
self-imposed – narzucony samemu sobie
various – rozmaity
eager – chętny
to affect sth – wpłynąć na coś
Defence Department – departament obrony
domestic – krajowy
as far as sth is concerned – jeśli chodzi o coś, jeśli mowa o czymś
despite – pomimo
according to – zgodnie z, według
convict – więzień
sentiment – pogląd
to substantiate – wesprzeć dowodami, uzasadnić
fact-checking – sprawdzanie zgodności merytorycznej (np. danych)
vast – ogromny
exaggeration – przesada, wyolbrzymienie
to equate sth with sth – porównać coś do czegoś
wording – sposób ujęcia czegoś, sformułowanie
to imply – zasugerować
to stream out – wychodzić/wylewać się strumieniem
to be adamant that… – być pewnym, że…
corners – obszary, kręgi
enforced – wymuszony, narzucony
obligatory – obowiązkowy
high-up – szycha, wierchuszka
(to be) on the chopping block – (znaleźc się) w kolejce do odstrzału
target – cel, tu: wyznaczona ilość
expenditure – wydatki, nakłady
to figure out – wykoncypować
to lay off – zwolnić (z pracy)
knock-on effect – efekt domina
inability – niezdolność
reasonable – rozsądny
adverse – negatywny
immediate – natychmiastowy
shutdown – wyłączenie, zamknięcie
to be well versed in sth – być dobrze z czymś zaznajomionym, znać się na czymś
partisan – stronniczy, konfliktowy (o polityce)
specific – konkretny
legislative body – ciało ustawodawcze
to fail to do sth – nie zrobić czegoś
worst-case scenario – najgorszy możliwy scenariusz
legislature – zgromadzenie ustawodawcze
wherein – w którym
to run – działać
official – urzędnik
involuntarily – tu: bezwarunkowo, bez pytania o zgodę
to be furloughed – pójść na wymuszony (przez państwo/sytuację ogólną) urlop bezpłatny
forced – zmuszony, wymuszony
unpaid leave – urlop bezpłatny
to make amends – poprawić się, zmienić na lepsze
to pass – przegłosować (ustawę)
bill – projekt ustawy (US)
to fall on X – przypadać na X (dzień)
looming – zbliżający się
gaping hole – ziejąca przepaść, ogromna dziura
debt – zadłużenie
revenues – przychody, wpływy
tax – podatek
majority leader – lider koalicji/większości parlamentarnej
to claim – stwierdzić, uznać
moot – bez znaczenia, bez pokrycia w rzeczywistości
gimmick – chwyt reklamowy, bubel
tug-of-war – zażarta rywalizacja
elusive – nieuchwytny, ulotny
agreed-upon – uzgodniony
prayer – modlitwa
on the Senate floor – w Senacie, na deskach Senatu
chaplain – kapelan
to be reflective of sth – być odzwierciedleniem/świadectwem czegoś
to set the mood – wprowadzić nastrój, zapanować (o nastroju)
to anticipate – oczekiwać
to prevail – zwyciężyć, brać górę