With ‘Sequestration’ Budget Cuts Fast Approaching, Debate Reaches Twitter
Around $85 billion in budget cuts are scheduled to occur this Friday unless Congress can come to an agreement on how to further reduce the deficit. This sequestration is taking place as a result of the Budget Control Act of 2011, passed as a solution to that summer’s debt-ceiling crisis. The clash taking place in Congress is the latest in which conversation centers around the false dichotomy between raising taxes and cutting spending.
Economists are split on what the outcome of Friday’s budget cuts will be. 60 percent of economists surveyed in a report produced by the National Association for Business Economics this month believe that sequestration will occur in either partial or full form, but many do not see the US sinking into a recession as a result. This survey of 49 economists presents a picture that is not as dire as the “fiscal cliff” that was largely avoided at the beginning of this year.
The White House views the situation with the utmost concern. Even if the country does not dip back into recession, the budget cuts will severely hamper many of President Obama’s second term plans. The President gave a speech last week about the jobs that would be lost as a result of these cuts, during which he was flanked by emergency responders whose jobs may be at risk. Regardless of whether the economy dips back into a recession, hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost.
Republicans have sought to place the blame for the upcoming sequester on the President. They are pushing the #obamaquester hashtag on Twitter, insisting that the current crisis is entirely the result of Democratic refusal to cut spending and reduce waste.
The White House has again taken to Twitter to get its message out. Tweets have been coming in rapidly, sometimes only a minute apart.
President Obama: “In 4 days, Congress is poised to allow a series of arbitrary, automatic budget cuts to kick in that will slow our economy”
— The White House (@whitehouse) February 25, 2013
Two minutes later:
President Obama: “Here’s the thing: these cuts don’t have to happen. Congress can turn them off anytime with just a little compromise.”
— The White House (@whitehouse) February 25, 2013
Followed by:
President Obama: “We’ve got to make the tough, smart choices to cut what we don’t need so that we can invest the things we do need.”
— The White House (@whitehouse) February 25, 2013
Republicans in Congress are not phased by the President’s remarks. Speaker of the House John Boehner tweeted earlier this morning:
Instead of campaigning, Pres Obama should call on his Dem-led Senate to pass a plan to avert sequester that can pass both Houses of Congress
— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) February 25, 2013
And House Majority Leader Eric Cantor:
RT if you think Washington has a spending problem.
— Eric Cantor (@GOPLeader) February 25, 2013
If Washington’s track record is anything to go by, social media staffers may just have the safest jobs on the government payroll when the sequestration budget cuts take place.
