On Nov. 21, the co-chairs of the so-call Super Committee, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction in Washington, U.S. Sen. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), announced that the 12-member bipartisan panel had failed to reach agreement on how to reduce the nation’s deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years.
The committee, created under the Budget Control Act in August, had until Nov. 23 to present a proposal to Congress and the President for approval by Dec. 23. If the committee failed to draft a plan, or if Congress and the President failed to approve the committee’s proposal, a sequester would take effect ,resulting in $1.2 trillion in cuts to discretionary defense and non-defense programs through 2021.
The automatic cuts will be split evenly between defense and non-defense programs, starting in fiscal year 2013. Numerous entitlement programs are exempt from the $1.2 trillion trigger cuts including Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Social Security, veterans’ benefits, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.
However, Medicare is subject to a maximum 2 percent cut in payments to healthcare providers and health plans. As a result of the sequester, funding for discretionary defense programs will decrease by $55 billion each year from 2013 through 2021. Non-defense discretionary programs, such as education, low-income housing assistance and environmental funding, will see reductions of $47 billion each year from 2013 through 2021.
Impact on California
California Budget Project Executive Director Jean Ross, in her testimony to the Assembly Budget subcommittee on Health and Human Services, said California could lose $3 billion to $4 billion in federal funding once sequestering is fully implemented. Of the $91.5 billion in federal funds spent through the state budget in 2010-11, $50 billion went to health and human services, $13.8 billion to public schools and universities, $5 billion to transportation programs and $5.8 to other programs including public safety and environmental protection. With more than 6 million Californians living in poverty and reliance on public programs continuing to rise drastically, the hardest hit will be low-income families who depend on the programs subject to the sequester. These include WIC, Head Start and Section 8 Housing.
The Community Health Councils will continue to monitor the impact of the Budget Control Act and advocate through our federal and state representatives to minimize or eliminate the impact.
Impact on Food Safety
The “superfailure” may also have significant implications on the implementation of crucial federal food health and safety programs at the local level. Alliance for a Stronger FDA, a coalition of agricultural industry and consumer groups aiming to increase the U.S. Food & Drug Administration capacity, estimates that cuts to public health agencies, including the FDA, probably will be around 7.8 percent, starting in fiscal 2013.
The FDA alone could automatically incur cuts over $175 million based upon these estimates. House Congressional Appropriations Committee member Norm Dicks (D-Wa) conducted an analysis of the potential impact of sequestration. He concluded that the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service budget would be set back to pre-2008 levels despite growth in demand for meat inspection nationwide.
Dicks’ analysis also concludes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would experience a $440 million cut, which could have profound impacts on public health programs at the local level. To avoid these cuts, Congress must agree on a meaningful plan for long-term debt reduction, reaching at least $1.2 trillion before Dec. 23.
Ms. Taylor, based at the Community Health Councils’ Stocker Street offices, may be contacted at janice@chc-inc.org
