CBO Says Reversing Sequester Would Boost Employment (300,000 - 1.6 million jobs) - WSJ

[Bill USA]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324110404578628120816706946.html

WASHINGTON—The Congressional Budget Office said reversing the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester would boost employment by roughly 900,000 jobs and increase gross domestic product 0.7% by Sept. 30, 2014.

Such a move, which some Democrats are calling for but many Republicans are opposing, would also increase government spending relative to current law by $104 billion, the CBO said Thursday in a letter to Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee. The nonpartisan agency the jobs number represented its "central estimate" of the employment impact in the third quarter of 2014 of reversing the spending cuts, with the outside ends of the estimate ranging from 300,000 to 1.6 million jobs.

The CBO's analysis comes as the White House and congressional Republicans remain at odds over what to do with the across-the-board spending cuts, which began to bite in March and will continue to reduce government spending each year through 2021. The cuts were part of the 2011 Budget Control Act and designed to spur lawmakers to find alternative ways to reduce the deficit. Since no agreement was reached, the cuts went into effect, hitting a range of government programs like the military, education, transportation and housing. The cuts don't affect Medicare and Social Security benefits, though they do cut payments to Medicare providers like hospitals and doctors.

The impact of the cuts has been uneven, hitting some sectors harder than others. Democrats and Republicans remain at odds over whether to leave them in place. Democrats could try to use the new CBO report as a way to push more Republicans to back changes to the cuts. The CBO has estimated that if the cuts remain in place, the unemployment rate will be 8.0% at the end of 2013 and 7.6% at the end of 2014.
(more)

also see Economic Policy Institute: http://www.epi.org/publication/repealing-sequestration-create-900000-jobs/

Canceling the automatic, across-the-board spending reductions known as the “sequester” today would have a sizable short-term impact on our economy, according to a recent letter from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to House Budget Committee chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). CBO estimates that canceling sequestration would increase the level of real GDP by $113 billion (0.7 percent) and generate 900,000 new jobs in the third quarter of calendar year 2014; a number akin to 40 percent of the total number of jobs created over the last twelve months.

When Congress returns from their August recess next month, they will have nine days to hammer out a continuing resolution to fund government operations for fiscal year 2014. The fate of the sequester, which began on March 1 and is scheduled under current law to continue through 2021, is likely to hold up negotiations. Replacing the sequester with other cuts, as conservative lawmakers are suggesting, would not produce the same outcome as outright repeal, as it would still involve taking demand out of a weak economy. The CBO’s letter clearly shows that if our objective is strong economic growth and increased employment, canceling sequestration is a no-brainer.

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[Cali_Democrat]

1. That means the Republicans will be even more against reversing the sequester

They want the economy to tank.

They want loads of unemployed Americans

They want economic stagnation

They want suffering

So they can pin it on Obama

Sick bastards is what they are