Budget/Appropriations

The Topline: Competing Democratic and Republican bills to avoid sequestration failed in the Senate as expected Thursday, and nothing else is in the pipeline to stop the $85 billion in spending cuts, set to go into effect Friday.

The day that so many people said would never come — because the across-the-board cuts were so terrible that no one would let them happen — has now arrived.

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The White House has issued a new memo guiding agencies on how to implement the $85 billion in budget cuts.

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A proposal that would give President Obama more flexibility to carry out sequester cuts is being met with resistance

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The across-the-board cuts known as sequestration are set to become a reality this week after looming over the country for 18 months.

But first, the Senate is expected to confirm former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) as Defense secretary — just in time for the $46 billion reduction to the Pentagon’s 2013 budget to land in his lap.

The sequester is set to begin on Friday, and there appears to be little movement in Congress to stop the cuts from taking place. Instead, congressional Republicans and the White House are battling over who’s to blame.

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The public feel strongly the budget should be balanced on the back of defense spending rather than Social Security and Medicare.

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The Pentagon’s budget will be reduced to 2007 levels if the sequester takes effect on Friday.

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A new poll finds a majority opposes spending cuts for most government programs, including defense and entitlements. 

 According to a Pew Research poll released Friday, a majority supports either increasing spending or keeping spending at current levels for 18 of the 19 federal programs surveyed.

The poll was issued a week before $85 billion in cuts are set to begin hitting the government on March 1. 

The most popular programs are veteran’s benefits, as 91 percent say it should be increased or maintained. Eighty-seven percent support keeping Social Security spending at current levels or increasing it, while 89 percent favor increased or current spending for education. 

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Graham argued the cuts would "unvravel" the U.S. military, while Paul said sequestration was not "a real cut in spending."

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A leading Republican opponent of sequestration on Friday conceded that cuts to the Pentagon are likely to be triggered in March despite his warnings about dire consequences for the military.

Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the question now facing lawmakers is how long the sequestered cuts will stay on the books.

"Sequester is going to kick in and as people see what it is ... that will hopefully force us" to come up with a solution for stopping them, McKeon told reporters during a breakfast in Washington.

He said lawmakers have "locked ourselves" into sequestration due to the impasse over how to replace the more than $1 trillion in automatic budget cuts that are coming over 10 years.

"We are going to be forced into it," McKeon said. "We have just not been able to get past the politics of it [all]."

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Appropriations Chairman Rogers is preparing a continuing resolution that would prevent a government shutdown beyond March 27

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