Politics
Obama cautions of risks due to budget spending cut uncertainty
“I don’t think we can maintain the same level of security at all places around the country with sequester as without sequester,” said Napolitano, adding that the impact would be “‘like a rolling ball. It will keep growing.”
Napolitano focused in particular on the impact to the border, saying her agency would be forced to furlough 5,000 patrol agents. She tamped down the notion that budget cuts would make the nation more vulnerable to terrorism, but said the sequester would make it “awfully, awfully tough” to minimize that risk.
Also Monday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said visiting hours would be cut at all 398 national parks, just as they prepare for an influx of spring and summer visitors.
Elsewhere in the government, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the cuts would harm the readiness of U.S. fighting forces. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said travelers could see delayed flights. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said 70,000 fewer children from low-income families would have access to Head Start programs. And furloughed meat inspectors could leave plants idled.
Obama will seek to build public support for his sequester offset plan Tuesday when he travels to Newport News, Va., a community that would be impacted by the defense cuts.
The sequester was designed as an unpalatable fallback, meant to take effect only if a congressional super-committee failed to come up with at least US$1 trillion in savings from benefit programs.
Many of the nation’s governors, who are gathered in Washington for their annual meeting, voiced frustration over the impending cuts, saying Washington’s inability to strike a deal had created widespread uncertainty in the economy and hampered economic recovery in their states.
