Tuesday, November 22, 2011

What is rural impact of supercommittee's failure?

Yesterday the congressional "supercommittee" on deficit reduction failed to reach a deal before its Nov. 23 deadline, meaning sequestration or automatic $1.2 trillion cuts in defense and domestic programs is set to start in 2013. The question remains whether another congressional agreement can be reached before then and if not what programs are likely to get the automatic cuts.

The failure spared Medicaid and Medicare temporarily until the 2 percent automatic cuts designated for health care and defense take effect in 2013, David Nather of Politico reports. Social Security, a disproportionally rural program, is also safe temporarily as the supercommittee's new consumer-price-index model that would have reduced payments to seniors is now off the table, John Allen of Politico reports.

The military did not fare so well, since the debt-ceiling deal creating the supercommittee requires half the cuts to come from defense. The defense industry's chances of blocking the cuts are slim, Allen reports. To read his summary of the winners and losers in the supercommittee failure, click here. To read Bob Cusack of The Hill's breakdown of winners and losers, click here.

The agriculture industry, safe for the moment, must wait as Farm Bill negotiators focus on producing their own legislation before the current authorization expires next September, David Rogers of Politico reports. The agricultural committees proposed $16.7 billion in "outlay savings," or a 27 percent reduction, which would include an end to direct payments and the related Average Cost Revenue Election program giving farmers three options instead. (Read more)

Click here to read The Washington Post's guide to the deficit-and debt rhetoric, by Glenn Kessler.

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