What is the Sequester?

In August of 2011 an agreement was made between President Obama and House Republicans which was supposed to help our budget.

According to The Atlantic the original agreement was that our debt ceiling, or national debt, would go up and there would be spending cuts.

The cuts would come in two parts. First, over the next decade $900 billion worth of budget cuts would be made, mostly from the defense department. Secondly, additional cuts worth $1.5 trillion would be made. A 12 member bipartisan and bicameral committee was supposed to decide where these cuts would come from.

If the group could not decide on where to pull these cuts from then there was a back-up plan, the Sequester which is $1.2 trillion across the board cuts.

If passed, the Sequester will cost Americans between 700,000- 1 million jobs within the next two years.

Fox reports that Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood is warning Congress that “These are harmful cuts with real-world consequences that'll cost jobs and hurt our economy".

If Congress cannot come to an agreement soon the Sequester goes into effect March 1.