National Pulse

White House details potential impact of sequester on each state

Reuters

In an attempt to maintain pressure on the GOP, the White House has released 51 fact sheets detailing the effects it says states will see if across-the-board spending cuts take effect Friday. The documents, which mention the possibility of job cuts in education, federal-worker furloughs and reduced public health services, drew a tepid response from Republican leaders. "The White House needs to spend less time explaining to the press how bad the sequester will be and more time actually working to stop it," said a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner. RealClearPolitics/The Associated Press (2/25), The Washington Post (2/24)

Reader Polls

This week's poll: Sequestration nation
The "fiscal cliff" has a new name: "Sequestration." When the president and Congress reached agreement to avoid the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts looming at the beginning of the year, they chose to kick the can down the road on the spending cuts. The nation will come upon that can at the end of this week, when $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will take effect. Predictions of dire consequences populate the news cycles, including today's edition of SmartBrief on Business and Politics. The decision-makers in Washington knew this deadline was approaching for the past two months, yet made no progress on reaching an agreement to avoid sequestration. This week's question: Who's responsible for the state we're in? Some possible answers follow. If you answer "None of the above/other" and care to share your suggestions, send them to us using this link, and select "Content Feedback" as the category. Results Friday.

President Barack Obama

Congress as a whole

Congressional Republicans

Congressional Democrats

All of the above

None of the above/other

Agenda Items

Cuts will affect America's military readiness, defense hawks warn

Reuters

Congressional deficit and defense hawks are at odds over looming budget cuts that would shave $46 billion from the Pentagon's $525 billion budget, reducing military spending over the next decade by about half a trillion dollars. A large majority of voters say that fixing the deficit matters more than preserving military spending, according to polling data, but both sides agree that the current "sequester" plan is a clumsy was to curb spending. "We've gone past cutting the meat. We're into the bone," said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Calif. The Hill/DEFCON Hill blog (2/25), Business Insider (2/21)

Data Points

Sequestration and the military: A state-by-state analysis

Click on image to enlarge interactive map.

The White House has released its forecast for how the looming sequestration would affect each state and the District of Columbia. This analysis dives deeper into the military aspect of the sequestration by analyzing which states receive the most overall and the most per capita funding from the Department of Defense. The states that enjoy the most funding have the most to lose as military jobs and families power other aspects of state economies. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Finance (2/25)

The Conversation

Daily Diversion

And the Oscar for best president goes to ...

Day-Lewis/Reuters

What if Abraham Lincoln had attended Sunday night's Academy Awards in person? As this animated short shows, he'd have needed a training montage to get ready for the big day, but he'd have rocked the red carpet in his topper and frock-coat. YouTube (2/21)

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Editor's Note

SmartBrief on Business and Politics has a new look
Have you noticed a change? SmartBrief on Business and Politics has the same valuable content but with a reworked design to make reading and sharing stories easier, especially on mobile devices. Have feedback on the change? Send it our way!

SmartQuote

The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression." -- W.E.B. Du Bois, American scholar and civil rights leader Share: