The sequester: Why the Democrats caved

last updated 8 January 2015

The fight over sequestration is over, said Ezra Klein in WashingtonPost.com, and “the Democrats have lost.” The automatic budget cuts that began March 1 because Congress and the White House couldn’t agree on a deficit-reduction deal finally caused a backlash last week, when the Federal Aviation Administration furloughed 10 percent of its air traffic controllers. The manpower shortage caused delays in airports across the country, and frequent fliers and airlines to erupt in outrage. Congress hastily passed a bill moving $253 million from other federal programs into salaries to keep the FAA fully staffed, and Obama reluctantly signed it. The Democrats could have stood firm and said to the country, Look how the sequester is affecting all of us, from the child denied entry to a Head Start program to defense contractors who’ve lost jobs. Instead they caved, losing their leverage to renegotiate the remaining $85 billion in sequester cuts this year—guaranteeing that they will remain in place. “They played a game of chicken with the Republicans, and they lost. Badly.”

Democrats lost because voters saw through their partisan gamesmanship, said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. The FAA’s delays were “deliberate and avoidable,” but the White House hoped they’d create a groundswell of opposition to the sequester. But even Obama couldn’t convince the public that a mere 4 percent cut to the FAA’s $15 billion budget could translate to 10 percent staff reductions, and 6,700 flights forced off schedule daily. Despite the administration’s scare tactics, it’s now obvious that the sequester hasn’t affected “basic services that voters expect from their government.”

Tell that to the sequester’s quieter victims, said Ruth Marcus in The Washington Post. They include seniors receiving an estimated 4 million fewer Meals on Wheels, and 70,000 children excluded from Head Start programs, and unemployed workers whose benefits will be curtailed. Make no mistake, the sequester will continue to take a “silent, uncertain toll”—but it’s only when well-off business travelers and vacationers kick up a fuss that Washington acts. Sadly, poor people have no clout in our political system, said Howard Kurtz in TheDailyBeast.com. The general public, meanwhile, is sick of two years’ worth of stories about budget gridlock in Washington, and just can’t bear to listen anymore. Soon, “the sequester story will fade from the headlines,” even if both parties agree that cutting spending in this indiscriminate way is dumb.