If you're paying attention, you know the damage sequestration has caused, from kids kicked out of Head Start and Head start teachers losing their jobs to waitlists for Meals on Wheels to court delays and a weakened justice system. But once Congress fixed it so business travelers wouldn't face big delays in airports, there hasn't been a marquee item, a single huge number that would draw your eye even if you weren't facing a direct cut yourself. Now there is: 1.6 million.
The Congressional Budget Office says that keeping sequester cuts through 2014 would cost the economy as many as 1.6 million jobs. If Congress repeals sequestration, the economy could add between 300,000 and 1.6 million jobs, with around 900,000 being the most likely number. The CBO looked into this at the request of Rep. Chris Van Hollen, as Democrats prepare another push to fix this thing:
House appropriators are producing 12 annual bills with an overall spending level of $967 billion. That’s $91 billion less than the bill being worked on in the Senate, where Democrats are crafting bills under the assumption sequestration is stopped. The gulf between the chambers on spending could lead to a government shutdown Oct. 1. [...]
“This kind of information should be something that shakes people up a little bit and forces them to recognize the human toll,” Van Hollen said of the CBO report.
He noted he has tried seven times since the sequester began to get a vote on a replacement bill with farm subsidy cuts and tax increases.
But Republicans remain determined to keep the massive, indiscriminate cuts in place—even the ones they say they don't like—in order to avoid closing some corporate tax loopholes or taxing hedge fund billionaires a little more. Now, as the next big fight approaches, that determination comes with a big number representing the jobs that will be lost if Republicans keep getting their way.