(Courtesy of Senator John Thune)

March 1st is the deadline for our elected leaders in Washington D.C. to get a deal done to avoid sequestrationSouth Dakota’s junior Senator believes it will happen.  John Thune took some time during the President’s Day Holiday break to see his constituents and returns to work with an uphill climb.

Senator Thune says his chamber will get to vote on a bill prior to the deadline, but it will have little in common with the already-passed House legislation.  The Republican-led House has mostly spending cuts in their edition while the Democrats in the Senate want more tax increases.


John Thune Explains What Will Likely Happen With Sequestration Legislation


Sequestration is a legal term which means the action of taking legal possession of assets until a debt has been paid or other claims have been met.  So instead of choosing which cuts to make, the budget reductions will be arbitrary.  Thune says the Department of Defense will take on 50 percent of the cuts, but Defense only composes 20 percent of the budget.  Most federal spending is on entitlement programs and the sequestration measures don’t even touch them.


John Thune Predicts That A Deal Won’t Get Done


Thune also says the whole concept of sequestration is unnecessary because federal agencies should have enough latitude to reduce their budgets by 2 percent.  President Obama according to Thune is cherry-picking departments to drive an emotional point that spending cuts will hurt too much.


John Thune Says Departments Can Easily Find Cuts


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