Sequester Looms Larger

Charlie Cook: “Don’t be surprised if the barometric pressure in Washington’s atmosphere and the blood pressures of many Beltway denizens shoot up this week. As emotional, important, and timely as the debates over immigration and gun control are, the increasing likelihood that budget sequestration will, in fact, kick in March 1 is just now starting to sink in.”

“The thinking behind sequestration was that the penalty for not
sufficiently reducing the deficit would be so draconian that members of
Congress would do whatever it took to avoid it. No one realized that
quite a few members from both parties would prefer sequestration to
making the painful concessions necessary for compromise–but that’s where
we are.”

Byron York reports the GOP “appears more and more prepared to keep the sequester as it currently stands.”