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The Makings of Compromise on the Sequester

May 2, 2013
Blog

The air traffic controllers crisis, brought to us by the sequester cuts, offers both a warning of more like it to come and a pathway to a possible compromise. Congress solved the controllers crisis the easy way – by simply moving money from one account (the Airport Improvement Program) to pay the controllers. This was far from an ideal solution, but it is what Congress had already done for a few mostly defense-related agencies.

Now that both houses have passed a budget, a meeting of House and Senate conferees could provide a forum for the solution. Whatever the forum, even a controllers-like solution would be difficult, but might emerge for some agencies. For others, like the 600,000 women, infants and children stricken from the WIC program by the sequester, some funding would be essential. The sequester is doing unintentional but serious damage to the favored programs of each party because it is not a budget, it was meant to make Congress create a budget. Congress should sit down and negotiate a solution to the sequester. Considering the clear damage to the economy from the sequester, and the Congressional Budget Office forecast of 750,000 job losses due to the sequester, a necessary fix now could head off a rolling disaster. A controllers-like solution will not be the answer for some agencies but it does suggest the makings of compromise, even by this Congress.

Published: May 2, 2013