Sequester FAQ

Once we entered the world of sequestration on March 1, much has been written and spoken about it. Of course, a large share of the rhetoric is just that -- politicians blaming each other for it, and making wildly different projections about its impact. So we went to a somewhat neutral source, the Washington Post, and found these two articles that should answer your questions (in a scenario where not many answers exist).

The first article provided answers to the most common sequester questions.  For example, one common question is, do agency heads have much discretion in where funding cuts are made (ie, can an agency avoid making cuts to really critical programs?) and here is the Post's response:

"Not much. The sequester must be applied evenly to every 'program, project, and activity.' What is a program, or a project, or an activity, you ask? No one really knows, and OMB will have to define that. But the last time we did a sequester, an example of an activity was an individual buoy floating in the Chesapeke Bay. That buoy had to be cut by 5 percent. So no, administrators don’t have much flexibility. Their hands are largely tied."

A second Post article outlined how different programs will be affected state by state. Click on the "Child Care" and "Head Start" tabs to see how our field may be impacted.

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