Making Sequester Hurt a Little Less
Mar 21, 2013
The passage of continuing resolutions in both the House and Senate ends (for now) the concern over furloughing meat inspectors. It does not end the speculation that the Obama administration tried to use sequestration to get tax increases passed. Despite denials from administration officials, it is hard not to suspect a plan was in place to use the threat of sequestration for political purposes. In hindsight, the administration seemed to overplay its hand and was willing to play chicken (pardon the pun) with things like meat and poultry inspection. The plan seems to have been to paint the worst possible scenario and then trust Congress to pass the CR to avoid the predicted disaster. It seems trusting a dysfunctional Congress to save the day is a risky move but for now it worked. However the budget debate is far from over and we’ll no doubt be subjected to more of these political games by both parties. The furlough we need is on partisan politics but instead we have continuing dysfunction.
