Today's Teamster News 11.17.13

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/world/europe/youth-unemployement-in-europe.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" rel="nofollow">Young and Educated in Europe, but Desperate for Jobs</a>  New York Times   ...Five years after the economic crisis struck the Continent, youth unemployment has climbed to staggering levels in many countries: in September, 56 percent in Spain for those 24 and younger, 57 percent in Greece, 40 percent in Italy, 37 percent in Portugal and 28 percent in Ireland. For people 25 to 30, the rates are half to two-thirds as high and rising...<br /><a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/matthewzeitlin/americas-student-debt-balance-is-growing-and-less-of-it-is-g" rel="nofollow">America’s Student Debt Balance Is Growing And Less Of It Is Getting Paid Back</a>  Buzzfeed   ...Now it’s over $1 trillion, bigger than credit card debt...<br /><a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-11-15/mass-surveillance-destroying-american-economy" rel="nofollow">Security Expert: “Buy American Doesn’t Sell Well Anymore Because It Means Give A Copy To The NSA”</a>  zero hedge   ...We’ve previously noted that mass surveillance is killing American tech companies. And Cisco just blamed its earnings slump on China’s disdain for NSA spying...<br /><a href="http://www.msnbc.com/all/harsher-cuts-are-their-way" rel="nofollow">Harsher cuts are on their way</a>  MSNBC   ...Unless Congress reverses the cuts, defense discretionary spending will be cut by an estimated $19 billion in 2014 and non-defense spending will be cut $12 billion more...<br /><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/chases-twitter-gambit-devolves-into-all-time-pr-fiasco-20131115" rel="nofollow">Chase's Twitter Gambit Devolves into All-Time PR Fiasco</a>  Rolling Stone   ...I almost couldn't believe it when I heard that JP Morgan Chase was going to do a live Twitter Q&A with the public – you know, all those people around the world they've been bending over and robbing for, oh, the last decade or so...<br /><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101193946" rel="nofollow">Feds expand hunt for offshore tax evaders</a>  CNBC   ...Federal judges approved special summonses aimed at getting account data and identifying information of American banking clients of Switzerland's Zurcher Kantonalbank and Bermuda-based N.T. Butterfield & Son, prosecutors said Tuesday...<br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/12/us-usa-bank-fatca-idUSBRE9AB18K20131112" rel="nofollow">Bankers' lawsuit jeopardizes U.S. tax dodger crackdown: lawyers</a>  Reuters   ...A court challenge by Texas and Florida bankers threatens to undermine a broad U.S. government crackdown on offshore tax avoidance and jeopardize a web of carefully crafted international agreements, tax lawyers said...<br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/16/elizabeth-warren-2016-race-white-house" rel="nofollow">Elizabeth Warren: quiet revolutionary who could challenge Hillary Clinton in Democrats' 2016 race</a>  The Guardian   ...Senator's tough stance against Wall Street is attracting voters on the left who are disenchanted with the party establishment...<br /><a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/15876/anti_union_forces_mobilizing_at_chattanoogas_volkswagen_plant/" rel="nofollow">Volkswagen Isn’t Fighting Unionization—But Leaked Docs Show Right-Wing Groups Are</a>  In These Times   ...Mike Elk reports that while the company promised not to oppose the United Auto Workers attempts to organize their Chattanooga, TN plant, outside groups disagree with that decision. They're pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into anti-union campaigns...<br /><a href="http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2013/11/boeing_recipient_of_the_largest_state_tax_subsidy_in_history_paid_nothing_in_state_corporate_income.php#.UoiulmTF36l" rel="nofollow">Boeing, Recipient of the Largest State Tax Subsidy in History, Paid Nothing in State Corporate Income Taxes Over the Past Decade</a>  Citizens for Tax Justice   ...Over the past decade, Boeing has managed to avoid paying even a dime of state income taxes nationwide on $35 billion in pretax U.S. profits...<br /><a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/matthewzeitlin/the-sports-business-cant-take-any-more-money-from-its-fans" rel="nofollow">The Sports Business Can’t Take Any More Money From Its Fans</a>  Buzzfeed   ...The industry’s growth now mostly involves extracting billions from television networks and advertising. Ticket sales and merchandising growth are slowing...<br /><a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304799404579155953286552832?tesla=y" rel="nofollow">Wisconsin Political Speech Raid</a>  Wall Street Journal   ...In recent weeks, special prosecutor Francis Schmitz has hit dozens of conservative groups with subpoenas demanding documents related to the 2011 and 2012 campaigns to recall Governor Walker and state legislative leaders...<br /><a href="http://stinktanks.org/ohio/" rel="nofollow">Something stinks in Ohio</a>  Center for Media and Democracy   ...The Buckeye Institute is largely funded by right-wing out-of-state foundations, and does not disclose its donors to the public despite its influence in shaping public policy in Ohio...<br /><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/seattle-elects-socialist-city-council" rel="nofollow">Seattle elects Socialist candidate to city council </a> Associated Press   ...She backed efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15; called for rent control in the city where rental prices keep climbing; and supports a tax on millionaires to help fund a public transit system and other services...<br /><div><br /></div>

corporate tax evasion Elizabeth Warren european austerity Jobs JPMorgan scott walker Seattle Sequestration spying stink tanks Today's Teamster News 11.17.13

Young and Educated in Europe, but Desperate for Jobs  New York Times   ...Five years after the economic crisis struck the Continent, youth unemployment has climbed to staggering levels in many countries: in September, 56 percent in Spain for those 24…

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Austerity: The real winner of the government shutdown

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCu5-cGsVel-NMCEXXRtxlPbyQriTWDMEjk_uXkXM6XSxV8fHDcUo2EJ5oWRcqaAXqH3tG520wdrl3zVfMsBe6tq9NZcgO6Gc2bj0mrnds_ddqRnBEn5haGfFYrLCcNb6UPW39e_8_TKAx/s1600/austerity_anti_worker_cuts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCu5-cGsVel-NMCEXXRtxlPbyQriTWDMEjk_uXkXM6XSxV8fHDcUo2EJ5oWRcqaAXqH3tG520wdrl3zVfMsBe6tq9NZcgO6Gc2bj0mrnds_ddqRnBEn5haGfFYrLCcNb6UPW39e_8_TKAx/s200/austerity_anti_worker_cuts.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">A popular thing to say on Capitol Hill is that there were <a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/10/watch-live-obama-outlines-what-comes-next/70644/" rel="nofollow">no winners in the government shutdown</a> and debt ceiling crisis that ended last night. </span><br /></span><br />But once again, savage cuts to social spending have won the day. Sure, the conflict may have been a terrible embarrassment for the GOP, but the Wall Street-backed tea party agenda of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austerity" rel="nofollow">austerity</a> came out unscathed.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">The <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-austerity-20131016,0,1067125.story" rel="nofollow"><em>Los Angeles Times</em> observed</a>:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As the shadow of the shutdown passes, it's proper to be reminded again that this fight involved spending levels that are materially suppressing economic growth and hampering the recovery.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Specifically, the deal soon to be voted on leaves the sequester in place, at least until Jan. 15….The sequester is merely one manifestation of Congress's love for austerity in the post-recession era. From the inception, recovery programs have never been as large or robust as they needed to be, despite evidence that even harsher austerity regimes kept much of Europe mired in slumps.</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">But the deal that was negotiated yesterday to reopen the government and suspend the debt ceiling didn’t just leave the austerity assault in place. It may end up escalating the assault on workers even more. Richard Eskow at the <a href="http://ourfuture.org/20131016/winning-the-peace-the-post-shutdown-challenge" rel="nofollow">Campaign for America’s Future writes</a>:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This deal will bend the next few months’ deliberations along the same misguided lines that have guided our political discourse for years now. House and Senate members will be encouraged to come up with a “deficit reduction plan” -- in other words, to impose another round of cuts just like those which have already wounded the economy and shredded millions of jobs.</span></blockquote>Specifically, Congress’s latest deal opens the door to further cuts that will target working Americans by <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304384104579139881517789174.html" rel="nofollow">establishing a bipartisan committee to deal with budget issues</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yeah, another one of those! And you can be sure that this committee will try to hash out a “<a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/10/truth-behind-grand-bargain.html">Grand Bargain</a>,” which is basically Washington-speak for harsher cuts and “entitlement reform” -- “entitlement reform,” by the way, is Washington-speak for gutting Social Security and Medicare.<br /><br />But austerity was the winner even before that part of the deal was conceived. That’s because the goalposts in Congress’s spending debates have already been moved to austerity’s side of the field.<br /><em>Think Progress</em> <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/15/2782911/republican-victory-sequestration/" rel="nofollow">reports</a>:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">It may seem like ancient history, but <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_sequestration_in_2013" rel="nofollow">sequestration</a> was originally designed to be so unpalatable to both parties that the threat of its automatic budget cuts to both defense and non-defense programs alike would be enough to force lawmakers to come to a grand bargain budget agreement. As it first went into effect in March, Republicans tried to pin the blame for any negative consequences on President Obama. But they gradually came out in favor of sequestration’s devastating cuts and have now made it the baseline in the fight over funding the government.</blockquote>According to the <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/budget/news/2013/09/30/76026/the-senate-continuing-resolution-is-already-a-compromise/" rel="nofollow">Center for American Progress</a>, Obama’s original budget for 2014 was $1.203 trillion. In 2010, Republicans took control of the House and deficit hawk <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2012/08/paul-ryan-premium-wine-for-me-catfood.html">Paul Ryan</a> proposed a 2014 budget of $1.095 trillion -- that's 10 percent <em>more</em> than what Congress just passed to end the shutdown.<br /><br />Outrageously, the justification for all these spending reductions is baseless. The country’s supposedly out-of-control <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/09/deficit-falling-falling-falling" rel="nofollow">debt has been falling significantly over the last two years</a>.<br /><br />But for tea party extremists, austerity was never about getting the deficit under control. It’s about shrinking government in a way that punishes workers and the poor. Even during the shutdown, what was deemed “essential” and “non-essential” gives you an idea of what parts of government right-wing elites think is important. So <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/10/08/2748461/members-only-congressional-gyms-deemed-essential-remain-open-during-shutdown/" rel="nofollow">Congress’s gym – complete with heated pools and a sauna – was essential</a>. Food assistance to low-income mothers and children? Non-essential.<br /><br />Now, the latest agreement sets the stage for another budget and debt limit battle just in time for another round of sequester cuts. As we wrote at <a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/joy-over-proposed-budget-deal-should-be-short-lived">Teamster.org</a>:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">...our government will be funded at a significantly reduced level than it should be... because of sequester cuts that went into effect last year.</blockquote>For now, we’ve avoided default, reopened the government and hundreds of thousands of locked-out government workers are back to work. That’s definitely a good thing. But now anti-worker zealots in Washington are hoping that sharper austerity measures won't seem so bad compared to the pain caused by the shutdown.<br /><br />Don’t be fooled.<br /><br />

anti-worker extremists austerity budget deficit debt ceiling government shutdown grand bargain Sequestration tea party Wall Street Austerity: The real winner of the government shutdown

A popular thing to say on Capitol Hill is that there were no winners in the government shutdown and debt ceiling crisis that ended last night. But once again, savage cuts to social spending have won the day. Sure, the conflict may have been a terribl…

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How many Americans does it take to shut down the government?

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2tmrkdAXSMRcjGnEicOB6MrY5qLgU58cpyofvKlqDBol91iZWuZ7jlFlIX84G6HmkyDexcI6q-pTc-ze5C8-POqyVD0vV2kaWOPlp9IZ5qBbYcm77iuSe476NWjydZlQGJyA6JFd2Y2y/s1600/jobsnotcuts.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2tmrkdAXSMRcjGnEicOB6MrY5qLgU58cpyofvKlqDBol91iZWuZ7jlFlIX84G6HmkyDexcI6q-pTc-ze5C8-POqyVD0vV2kaWOPlp9IZ5qBbYcm77iuSe476NWjydZlQGJyA6JFd2Y2y/s200/jobsnotcuts.png" width="200" /></a></div>Extremist Republicans claim shutting down the government over their opposition to a law passed three years ago is what the American people want.<br /><br />That's an interesting theory considering less than 5 percent of the population actually voted for these hostage-takers.<br /><br /><em>Business Insider</em> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-government-shutdown-is-the-will-of-a-pathetic-43-of-the-population-2013-10">reports</a>:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Let's look at the element of the House GOP that supports tying the continuing resolution to fund the government to an un-passable defunding of the Affordable Care Act. Judging by the number of people who signed  <a href="http://meadows.house.gov/uploads/Meadows_DefundLetter.pdf" sl-processed="1">freshman Rep. Mark Meadow's (R-N.C.)</a> letter,  <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/jwithrow/does-your-senator-stand-with-mike-lee-against-obam" sl-processed="1">81 members</a> of the 233 GOP caucus support this hardcore strategy. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Adding them up, we see that only 13.8 million Americans actually voted for the suicide caucus. That's only 11.7% of the people who voted in a congressional election in 2012, and an absolutely pathetic 4.3% of the U.S. population.</blockquote>How can such a small percentage of people stack Congress with enough sociopaths to shut down the government? The answer is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering" rel="nofollow">gerrymandering</a> -- self-serving congressional redistricting that allowed Republicans to get 33 more seats than Democrats in the last election despite getting fewer votes.<br /><br />And <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/10/02/2716421/how-gerrymandering-makes-a-speedy-shutdown-end-unlikely/"><em>Think Progress</em> reports</a> that Republican gerrymandering makes a quick resolution to the shutdown even more unlikely:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Obama garnered 48.8 percent of the vote or more in just 13 of the 218 other Congressional Districts currently represented by a Republican -- and even if the general public wants the government reopened, there is little political pressure in heavily GOP districts for Republican members to side with President Obama and the Democrats.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">With a gerrymandered majority consisting of districts that do not represent the majority of Americans’ viewpoints, House Republicans can keep the government in a shutdown highly insulated from the anger and blame they are receiving.</blockquote>So when you hear the fanatics in Washington say they're carrying out the will of the American people, remember they're more likely carrying out the will of their heavily gerrymandered districts. They aren't satisfied with the <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/02/sequester-is-anti-growth-and-anti.html" rel="nofollow">anti-worker sequester cuts</a> they got this year. To them, it's great to tear at the social safety net. But it's better to rip it to pieces and even better to make it look like your opponents are to blame for the crisis.<br /><br />When that doesn't work the extremists are busy downplaying the crisis altogether. But <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/01/the-nine-most-painful-consequences-of-a-government-shutdown/" rel="nofollow">the shutdown is much more than a few shuttered parks</a>. It's an attack on federal workers, veterans' benefits, vaccine programs, food safety inspections, food assistance for women and children, disability benefits, Head Start programs, financing for small businesses, and tourism.<br /><br />And it's all thanks to the shrill minority spawned from gerrymandered voting districts -- democracy (and the economy) be damned.

gerrymandering government shutdown health care reform Sequestration tea party How many Americans does it take to shut down the government?

Extremist Republicans claim shutting down the government over their opposition to a law passed three years ago is what the American people want.That's an interesting theory considering less than 5 percent of the population actually voted for these ho…

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With Republican ally, Obama blasts Congress on sequestration

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" height="412" id="flashObj" width="486"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=2191280980001&playerID=1409164951001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAETmrZQ~,EVFEM4AKJdRjek0MS21pRzf_GTDAM-xj&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=2191280980001&playerID=1409164951001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAETmrZQ~,EVFEM4AKJdRjek0MS21pRzf_GTDAM-xj&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="486" height="412" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" swLiveConnect="true" allowScriptAccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – President Barack Obama used a backdrop of a shipbuilding plant, factory workers and the local Republican congressman in his latest attempt to increase pressure on Congress to bend on the sequester cuts.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">With Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) in tow but off stage — even as the congressman said later that president and the GOP deserve equal blame for not advancing viable sequester alternatives — Obama warned that while the nation won’t see immediate damages should the sequester cuts take place Friday, they will damage the economic recovery he has carefully shepherded and place the nation’s security at risk.</div><a class="hidden" href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/with-republican-ally-obama-blasts-congress-on-sequestration-88109.html#continue" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; left: -9999em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Continue Reading</a><div id="continue" style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />“These cuts are wrong,” he said while standing in front of a three-story aircraft carrier propeller. “They’re not smart, they’re not fair, they are a self-inflicted wound that doesn’t have to happen.”(<a href="http://www.politico.com/gallery/2013/02/what-theyre-saying-about-sequestration/000817-011563.html" rel="noreferrer" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">PHOTOS: What they’re saying about sequestration</a>)</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rigell provided the White House with the bipartisan display it’s long sought, and Obama said he gave the congressman from Virginia Beach “credit” deserved for breaking with his leadership and traveling here aboard Air Force One.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Obama acknowledged the political risk for Republicans — “That’s not always healthy, being with me,” he said — but praised Rigell for his call for Republicans to consider new tax revenues as part of a deal to avert the sequester.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“There are too many Republicans in Congress right now who refuse to compromise even an inch when it comes to closing tax loopholes and special interest tax breaks,” Obama said. “Keep in mind, nobody is asking them to raise income tax rates. All we’re asking is for them to consider closing tax loopholes and deductions.”</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rigell did not speak at the event, though he did with reporters aboard Air Force One, expressing his dissatisfaction with his conference but his skepticism that any deal could be struck ahead of the March 1 deadline. Along with Rigell, Obama praised by name Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and made a reference to “your Republican governor,” Bob McDonnell, for promoting Obama’s version of a “balanced approach.”</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Neither attended the event.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As has his administration, Obama warned the sequester would result in delays in commercial air traffic, fewer federal crimes being investigated and prosecuted, less child care and a building slowdown for defense contractors.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The president said Defense employees would face unpaid furloughs, the ripple effects of which would be damaging to local and national economies.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Obama also delivered a rebuke to Republicans who have said in recent weeks that the White House should be forced to choose what elements of the government are cut due to sequester.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The cuts themselves, he said, are too broad to be able to be targeted toward specific agencies or programs. Instead, Obama said, more tax revenue is necessary to meet the sequester’s debt-reduction target.</div><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“There’s no smart way to do it,” he said. “Do I close funding for disabled kids or poor kids? Do I close this Navy shipyard or some other? When you’re doing things in a way that’s not smart, you can’t gloss over the pain and impact it’s going to have on the economy. The broader point is, Virginia, we can’t just cut our way to prosperity.”</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rigell is hardly anyone’s idea of a rock-ribbed Republican. The former car dealer gave $1,000 to Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and told a town hall meeting Monday that House Speaker John Boehner was not acting in the country’s best interest. Obama won his district in November.</div><a class="hidden" href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/with-republican-ally-obama-blasts-congress-on-sequestration-88109_Page2.html#continue" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-weight: bold; left: -9999em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Continue Reading</a><div id="continue" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />“I don’t believe that there’s enough time to come to a definitive agreement which would stop it,” he saidRigell, the first Republican congressman to fly on Air Force One with Obama since Sen. Rand Paul traveled to Kentucky in Sept. 2011, told reporters Tuesday before the event that there isn’t time to negotiate and pass a sequestration agreement before Friday’s deadline.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rigell, whose district is among the most military-heavy in the country, said after the event that he was disappointed that Obama didn’t present specifics of how he would prefer to reduce federal government spending in place of the sequester.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I appreciate him bringing attention to this matter,” Rigell told POLITICO after returning to Washington. “What I did not see, the same thing I told him on Air Force One, I did not see a definitive outline of the expense reductions that would be expressed in the form of legislation. I don’t know to what extent he’s encouraging Sen. (Harry) Reid to advance such a bill. If one isn’t advanced through the Senate, we won’t have one to advance through the House.”</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rigell said he’s already heard from GOP colleagues expressing puzzlement that he would join Obama on Tuesday’s trip, but that he could not in good conscience have passed on a chance to make the case for his constituents to the president.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I wasn’t going there to be an apologist or an advocate for the president, i was going there to try to persuade people,” Rigell said. “I was trying to make a point to the president, even though there’s downside with people in my own conference not undersanding or questioning my motives.”</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rigell said he and Obama did not speak during the return flight to Washington.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Obama, who won a second term in 2012 with only two fewer states than he took during his first election in 2008, said his time in office has taught him humility and that he cannot accomplish his agenda alone.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The one thing about being president is after four years you become pretty humble,” Obama said. “You think that maybe you wouldn’t but actually you do, when you realize you cant do things by yourself, that’s not how our system works. You’ve got to have the help and the goodwill of Congress. And what that means is you have to make sure the constituents of the members of Congress are putting some pressure and making sure they’re doing the right thing, putting an end to some of these political games.”</div><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br /></span></span></div>

Sequestration With Republican ally, Obama blasts Congress on sequestration

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – President Barack Obama used a backdrop of a shipbuilding plant, factory workers and the local Republican congressman in his latest attempt to increase pressure on Congress to bend on the sequester cuts.With Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va…

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How Sequestration’s Automatic Budget Cuts Could Hurt on Local Level

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="ap obama wave 130216 wblog How Sequestrations Automatic Budget Cuts Could Hurt on Local Level" src="http://abcnews.go.com/images/ABC_Univision/ap_obama_wave_130216_wblog.jpg" /><br /><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo, File</span><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cities and towns across the country are battening down the hatches, preparing for austerity measures that the budget cuts in sequestration would require if it goes into effect Friday.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/white-house-previews-local-impacts-of-sequester/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">The White House </a>previewed what some of those effects might be at the National Governors’ Association winter meeting on Sunday and Monday. President Obama <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/obama-enlists-governors-to-help-get-sequester-deal/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">called on governors</a> to help him devise a deal with Congress to avert implementation of the sequester.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The automatic budget cuts would deplete states’ capacity in several areas, including education, defense and transportation.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Here is a roundup of what ABC affiliates are reporting on the sequester. Click to jump:</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/how-sequestrations-automatic-budget-cuts-could-hurt-on-local-level/#va" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Virginia</a> | <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/how-sequestrations-automatic-budget-cuts-could-hurt-on-local-level/#nc" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">North Carolina</a> | <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/how-sequestrations-automatic-budget-cuts-could-hurt-on-local-level/#in" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Indiana</a> | <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/how-sequestrations-automatic-budget-cuts-could-hurt-on-local-level/#md" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Maryland</a> | <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/how-sequestrations-automatic-budget-cuts-could-hurt-on-local-level/#ga" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Georgia</a> | <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/how-sequestrations-automatic-budget-cuts-could-hurt-on-local-level/#ca" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">California</a> |</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="" name="va" style="color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"></a>VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Suggestion to Cut Congress’ Pay Draws Applause</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ABC affiliate station WVEC-TV reports:</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Three Republican congressmen — Rep. Rob Wittman (R-1st D), Rep. Scott Rigell (R-2nd D.) and Rep. Randy Forbes (R-4th D.)  – talked Monday to a packed house about sequestration’s effects on Hampton Roads and the state.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rigell told the crowd: “Even at this late hour, there are alternatives … we’re fighting.”</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He said the deadline hasn’t arrived and already Hampton Roads is feeling the effects of the impasse. … A frustrated businessman got loud applause when he suggested, “Congress should forfeit their pay until we have a budget.”</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Forbes announced he’d introduced a bill (H.R.773) to remove the Department of Defense from sequestration and reduce the total size of the sequester by that amount.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.wvec.com/news/sequester/Sequestration-battle-comes-to-Hampton-Roads-this-week-193004171.html" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Read more from WVEC here.</a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">WVEC’s Dave Cassidy <a href="http://www.wvec.com/news/sequester/Fewer-flights-longer-lines-expected-without-budget-deal-192468801.html" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">reported Friday</a> that the defense industry in that area is already feeling the effects of the sequester, “including the delayed overhaul of USS Abraham Lincoln at Newport News Shipbuilding and warn notices going out to more than 1,600 workers at BAE Systems shipyard in Norfolk.”</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="" name="nc" style="color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"></a>RALEIGH-DURHAM, N.C. — Travelers at Local Airport Expect Gridlock</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ABC station WTVD’s Sheyenne Rodriguez reports:</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Among the possible cuts we could see starting Friday are furloughs for airport screeners at checkpoints and also air traffic controllers. That would have a direct impact on travelers at Raleigh Durham International Airport.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It could mean fewer flights and longer wait times.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“With everything that’s been going on lately through the years, you’re going to need the TSA, you’re going to need the security. That’s the last thing that we need to cut,” said traveler John Jackson of Pennsylvania.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood didn’t mince words with reporters on the issue.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Likely close more than 100 air traffic control towers at airports with fewer than 150,000 flight operations per year,” <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/lahood-warns-budget-cuts-would-be-very-painful-for-the-flying-public/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">he explained</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">RDU will likely avoid that scenario. An RDU spokesperson explained it had about $188,000 flight operations last year.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Still, travelers are worried the gridlock that will likely first be felt at major airports in cities like Chicago and New York, which could affect travel in and out of RDU.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=9006202" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Read more from Rodriguez here.</a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="" name="in" style="color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"></a>LAWRENCE, Ind., — Defense Workers Fear Pay Cuts</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ABC affiliate WRTV’s Drew Smith reports:</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">More than 4,000 Indiana federal government workers could see a 20 percent pay cut soon.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">People who work for the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, or DFAS, in Marion County are at the mercy of what happens in Washington, D.C., with the looming budget cuts set to kick in March 1.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Elaine Ashcraft, who has put in 26 years with the federal government, said she is preparing for the worst.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“It’s pretty devastating,” Ashcraft said. “I’ve already started thinking about and I put in some applications for part time.”</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ashcraft works in Lawrence with DFAS, the payroll and accounting arm of the Department of Defense.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/more-than-4k-ind-employees-of-dfas-face-20-percent-pay-cut" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Read more from Smith here.</a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="" name="md" style="color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"></a>SILVER SPRING, Md. — Consumers Balk at Beef Shortage</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sunlen Miller reports for ABC affiliate WJLA:</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Without agreement from Congress, the automatic spending cuts, as brokered by Congress as part of the Budget Control Act, will kick in this Friday. The government has warned that as a small part of the cuts there could be a furlough of meat inspection workers, causing a potential nationwide shutdown of meat and poultry plants.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fewer inspectors mean fewer products. Fewer products drive meat prices right up, a concern to local butchers. … With fewer inspectors available it could also open up the potential that the detection of food-born illnesses could be compromised, the USDA has said.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For some consumers that was not acceptable.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I think it’s ridiculous,” Kelly Haney of Silver Spring said while food shopping today. “It is very important to me and my family that we have real healthy beef as well as all other food and I really, really don’t like the idea of the government doing anything to hamper that.”</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But it’s not just meat that stands to be affected; vegetables could be at risk too.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Agriculture Department has also warned that if the cuts go into effect there will be less money available for pest and disease prevention, which potentially could hit farmers hard with more outbreaks to their crops.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/02/sequestration-2013-with-budget-cuts-looming-what-will-this-mean-for-your-food--85591.html#ixzz2Lx57O2SJ" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Read more from Miller here.</a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Sequester Puts Program for Students With Disabilities in Jeopardy</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ABC affiliate WJLA reports:</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Debbie Sahlin wanted to help families with disabled children, so she founded the Lollipop Kids Foundation, which refurbishes and then donates wheelchairs and other equipment to families in need.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">She also knows first-hand the challenges of having a child with special needs. Just getting her 18-year-old son Ryan off the school bus takes extra effort, as do many other aspects of her daily life that most people take for granted.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ryan goes to public school in Montgomery County, which makes the thought of any more cuts in education funding tough for Sahlin. It’s even tougher when nearly half of the sequestration cuts in education would affect students with disabilities — $24 million worth of cuts in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Unless Congress acts by Friday, $85 billion total in cuts are set to take effect from March to September.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“If they cut any more, I honestly don’t know how they’re going to serve the children who are already in the school system,” Sahlin said.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/02/sequestration-2013-school-funding-for-students-with-disabilities-in-jeopardy-85659.html#ixzz2LxAvyEK9" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Read more from WJLA here.</a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="" name="ga" style="color: #30659c; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"></a>COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. — Schools Face Funding Cuts</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ABC affiliate WJBF’s Courtney Elledge reports:</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The sequester is a cut that would affect every public school in the state of Georgia.  Federally funded programs at state schools would see a slash starting this Friday if a compromise isn’t met.  The cut could affect teacher’s aids and education for children with disabilities.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Evans Middle School Principal Michael Johnson said: “Teacher’s aids are extremely important, they provide a vital service to our school… Hopefully we won’t get to that point.”</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Johnson says there’s a meeting every Thursday with staff members to plan for the upcoming weeks — the past few weeks have focused on the possible sequester.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m warning them, but I am making them aware of the situation, and where we’re at, ” Johnson said.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font: inherit; line-height: 20px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Johnson says the county, tax dollars, and school board members do a great job of providing funds for necessary programs — he’s just worried the  federal government won’t do the same, cutting Title 1 and special education funding.</div></div>

Sequestration How Sequestration’s Automatic Budget Cuts Could Hurt on Local Level

Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo, FileCities and towns across the country are battening down the hatches, preparing for austerity measures that the budget cuts in sequestration would require if it goes into effect Friday.The White House previewed what so…

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