Sequestration Could Choke Flow of Money in Maryland
Local politicians sound off on possibility of massive federal spending cuts.
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Nearly 450,000 public and private-sector jobs could be at risk if the enormous federal spending cuts--known as sequestration--go into effect on March 1, according to a recent article in the Washington Post.
County executives Rushern L. Baker III of Prince George’s and Isiah Leggett of Montgomery joined their Howard County colleague Kenneth Ulman on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, imploring Congress to come to an agreement and avert the cuts.
Yesterday, Patch reported on comments made by the Prince George’s, Montgomery County and Howard County executives in a release issued by all three governments.
Baker likened the effects of sequestration to a virus, saying, “Sequestration would feel like a cold to most of the nation, but to [Prince George's County] and the rest of the Washington metropolitan area, it would feel like a bad case of pneumonia."
In the same statement, Montgomery County Executive Leggett expressed concern that sequestration could “undo the economic gains we’ve made as the county and our country have begun to emerge from the financial crisis.”
Federal agencies in Bethesda, including NIH, are bracing for the potential cuts.
The Post article detailed the numbers of federal workers in each county - 47,000 in Montgomery and 70,000 in Prince George’s.
Sequestration would trigger $1.2 trillion in budget cuts, split evenly between defense and domestic discretionary spending, according to a Huffington Post article.
These cuts could affect the bond ratings of state and local governments, making capital expenditure loans more expensive and mass transit (Metro and local bus systems) could potentially lose millions if federal workers aren’t commuting.
Federal lawmakers are currently in a break, so there is no resolution imminent.
Brian
9:32 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
These are massive? What will they call the cuts that are made when someone with backbone is calling the shots, super gigantic infinity cuts?
Michael
9:46 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
This is a good thing. Maryland politicians are tax and spend ideologues. They are out of control with spending and taxes. It would be good to put them on a budget diet. What I fear is their voracious appetite for taxes and blindness towards restraint and the unending ability to tell us what is good for us and then take our money away. No wonder Maryland is rated the 9th worst state in the Union for business and the 6th worst (by AARP) for the elderly because of taxes.
Eric S.
10:27 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
*yawn* I feel like this is the norm at least once a year for the last several years now. The name changes (fiscal cliff, furlough, government shutdown, debt ceiling, sequestration, etc.) but it's the same every time. People in govt. pander for more money (or talk of too much spending), media freaks out, people freak out because they're told to, DC area really freaks out, grandstanding happens, and then magically a "compromise" happens and everything is dandy again for a year.
Why don't we just cut the crap and go back to sacrificing something at the solstice to make the crops grow. It'd waste less damn resources, and there's usually a party involved. I can't take this stuff seriously anymore.
@Michael: I'm confused. . . Isn't this a Federal thing? While your point may stand and these are MD politicians trying to protect federal govt. money coming into MD, this is Federal taxes, not state. They don't control that taxation. I fail to see the direct connection.
Are you making a more roundabout point that if the Feds cut programs that hit MD, the people who are paid that money will be paying less taxes, and THEN the state will have to do something about it? If that's the case, then, sure, I get it, but that'll have to be very long term.
Ddad99
1:57 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
Characterizing the sequestration spending cuts as "enormous" is a gross misrepresentation. The sequestration only cuts the rate of increase in baseline spending, that is, the sequestration is just a decrease in the rate of increase. Total spending would still go up!
While the projected savings would total $1.2 trillion dollars, this would take place over a 10 year period. This is conveniently left out of your article. Only $85 billion dollars is cut from 2013 spending, or less than 2% of the total budget. As we know, a current Congress cannot obligate or tie the hands of future Congresses, so any projected “cut” could easily be reversed in the future.
While the impact of sequestration would fall disproportionately on Maryland, we should keep in mind that the benefits of federal spending also fall disproportionately on Maryland. Most of Montgomery and PG Counties would have much lower populations and be much less prosperous if not for federal payrolls. Live by the government or die by the government, but Maryland has no room to complain.
Sammi
7:37 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
Ike Leggett is a stupid BAS**** who doesn't have a clue about what this trick (sequester) is all about. Ho Hum-----go back to sleep, Leggett-----you will not notice anything and the flow of our tax dollars into the peoples republic of maryland will continue until all of you are thrown out of office.