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Federal News Radio
OMB warns of
consequences if sequestration returns in 2016
Tuesday - 2/17/2015
By Jason Miller
The White House is warning Congress and agencies that if cuts from
sequestration return in fiscal 2016, the impact would be great.
In a report sent to Congress on Feb. 2, but posted only in the last
week or so, Shaun Donovan, the director of the Office of Management and
Budget, wrote that if lawmakers don't act, agencies would have to
reduce their discretionary budgets by more than $90.4 billion.
"Based on the estimates in that report, the defense cap is required to
be reduced by $53,909 million and the non-defense cap is required to be
reduced by $36,509 million. These adjustments are made to the
respective current law caps," Donovan wrote. "... OMB will be required
to implement reductions to the discretionary caps when it issues
preview reports for future years unless legislation is enacted to
cancel the Joint Committee reductions."
Defense discretionary spending would drop to $523 billion from $585.8
billion in 2015, while non-defense discretionary spending would drop to
$493.5 billion from $514.1 billion.
"However, the cap reductions that are now required by law to resume in
2016 do not provide sufficient resources for national security,
domestic investments, and core Government functions that are required
to ensure the Nation is achieving its full potential in a growing
economy. With the return of Joint Committee reductions, base
discretionary funding in 2016 would be at its lowest level in a decade
when adjusted for inflation," the report stated. "The President's 2016
Budget builds on the progress made with the enactment of the BBA and
the framework included in the 2015 Budget by including several
proposals to revise the discretionary caps."
OMB is required under the Budget Control Act to submit a report to
Congress three times a year detailing potential and actual
discretionary budget reductions.
The 2014 Budget Control Act reduced the defense caps by $53.9 billion
and the non-defense caps by $36.6 billion, and restored $44.8 billion
to both categories last year. For 2015, Congress reduced the defense
cap by $44.7 billion and the non-defense cap by $27.6 billion from the
original BCA levels. But lawmakers took no action around budget
reductions as called for under the Budget Control Act for 2016 to
2021...
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