Congress takes a turn at feeling the pinch of belt-tightening
By Emily Heil, WashPost, Published: March 16
Years after it became an unwelcomed American pastime, belt-tightening has come to Congress.
The $85 billion sequester, an across-the-board cut to federal spending that Congress conceived but never intended to actually take effect, has spawned an epidemic of unintended consequences.
And in small but telling ways, the sequester has pierced the bubble that has long protected the highest echelons of official Washington, often from itself.
It is notable, for example, that congressional salaries are exempt from the sequester cuts, but lawmakers are otherwise beginning to feel the pinch that’s all too familiar to many American families and businesses. Earlier this month, they learned that their office budgets were being slashed by 8.2 percent. With the average congressional office running on about $1.3 million annually, members have had to trim a serious chunk of change.
(More here.)
Years after it became an unwelcomed American pastime, belt-tightening has come to Congress.
The $85 billion sequester, an across-the-board cut to federal spending that Congress conceived but never intended to actually take effect, has spawned an epidemic of unintended consequences.
And in small but telling ways, the sequester has pierced the bubble that has long protected the highest echelons of official Washington, often from itself.
It is notable, for example, that congressional salaries are exempt from the sequester cuts, but lawmakers are otherwise beginning to feel the pinch that’s all too familiar to many American families and businesses. Earlier this month, they learned that their office budgets were being slashed by 8.2 percent. With the average congressional office running on about $1.3 million annually, members have had to trim a serious chunk of change.
(More here.)
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