Like it or not, sequestration takes hold: a round-up

WASHINGTON — Today is the deadline for lawmakers to avoid sequestration, the deep federal spending cuts they have been warning about for months, and have known were coming for more than a year.

It’s highly unlikely a White House meeting between the president and congressional leadership will produce a sequestration solution, and even if it does, Congress is out of town for the weekend and couldn’t vote on it until next week. So sequestration will take hold, like it or not.

The Senate did try, tepidly, to avoid this Thursday when it voted on competing Democratic and Republican sequester plans. Democrats would have replaced sequestration with equal parts spending cuts and increased revenue, through a higher tax rate on those making more than $1 million a year. Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken voted for this bill, but with only 51 ayes, it fell short of the 60 votes needed for passage.

Republicans would have kept the cuts in place, but give the White House more flexibility in dispersing them. Rather than blindly cutting spending across the board, President Obama would have been tasked with deciding where the cuts come down. This won just 38 votes.

In statements to MinnPost, both Klobuchar and Franken said they wanted to see a sequestration fix like the one Democrats pushed on Thursday.

“Democrats and Republicans need to come together and focus on smart solutions to reducing our debt that will help move our economy forward,” Klobuchar said.

“I wanted this to be fixed by now,” Franken said. “I’m deeply disappointed that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle didn’t support this approach of cuts and revenue.”

The Hill has a good breakdown of the Senate’s dueling Thursday votes, and here are some other sequester stories of note from this morning:

• NBC News explains how, exactly, sequestration formally takes effect, and when the economy might start feeling its wake.
• House Speaker John Boehner says he will not support additional tax increases to forestall sequestration, even though the White House has demanded it.
• State economist Tom Stinson said Minnesota will probably see about 5,000 fewer jobs created this year under sequestration. Minnesota’s firewall against the spending cuts has been well-documented.
• But other states are facing much tougher prospects. Stateline looks at where defense spending cuts will hurt the most. (For the Minnesota angle, note the second chart: Department of Defense spending accounts for less than 1 percent of Minnesota’s GDP)
• Congress is already looking beyond the sequester to its next self-imposed crisis, the expiration of government funding on March 27 and the potential government shutdown that brings with it. Politico looks at the potential sequestration implications within that debate.  
• Finally, the AP leaves the Beltway and looks at the real-life impacts of sequestration cuts in states where the pain could be felt the worst.

MinnPost's sequestration coverage is here.

Devin Henry can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com. Follow him on Twitter: @dhenry