Sequester: Job Losses, Spending Freezes May Hit Florida

As the deadline looms for the $85 billion in federal spending cuts set to take place without further action, here's a look at what the impacts could mean closer to home.

  While politicians in Washington, D.C., continue a blame game over who is responsible for the $85 billion in federal spending cuts that automatically kick in Friday, March 1, if action isn’t taken, politicians are sounding off about the cuts and what they could mean to local citizens. Gov. Rick Scott fears the sequester will compromise Florida’s safety while causing many Floridians to lose their jobs. “The impacts on Florida’s military installations and defense industries will be severe under the meat hammer of sequestration,” Scott said in a statement. “Our immediate concerns include dramatic reductions to our National Guard, which threatens our ability to respond to wildfires this spring and hurricanes this summer.” Scott went on to say…

• Photos (1)

What's Tampa Bay Saying?

Sequester in Florida: What Do You Think About the $85 Billion in Cuts?

The White House has released a document highlighting the deep cuts Florida will face if a deal isn’t reached before March 1. We’d like to get your take on the cuts and what should be done to avoid them.

Tampa Bay is a long way from Washington, D.C., but it’s often clear what happens there has very real, very dramatic impacts on our day to day life. Case in point: the upcoming “sequester,” which will impose $85 billion in automatic spending cuts on the federal government as of March 1 if a deal isn’t reached, according to The Huffington Post. Those cuts dig deep into just about every government agency imaginable from the federal to the local level. They affect the military, schools, law enforcement, air traffic control, food inspections and more. In Florida, the impacts this year alone, according to a document released by the White House (see attached PDF) could be staggering. Here are just a few of the impacts the White House says will …

•  50 Comments
• Photos (1)
• Documents (1)

Dad of Three

12:11 pm on Friday, March 8, 2013

Boy you are totally misinterpreting what I wrote, Steve. Protecting Social Security and Medicare (and that's not to suggest there couldn't be some reforms, by the way, as long as they would not materially affect current retirees or about-to-be's) is not a Far Left issue. Those of us who are centrists, as well as most conservatives and certainly all progressives, want to protect those two …   more ›