When do automatic spending cuts start

Sequestration Update Report: August August 13, August 15, February 25, April 2, Most Medicare administrative spending is discretionary, however, and thus not subject to this sequester. The 2 percent cut is a reduction in payments to Medicare providers and plans and has been in place every year since Beneficiaries see few direct impacts, as the sequester does not affect their benefit structure.

First, it temporarily suspends the Medicare sequester from taking effect between May 1, and December 31, This means that Medicare plans and providers would receive an increase in payment rates of approximately 2 percent more than what they otherwise would have received during this time.

Second, it extended the mandatory sequester for one additional year. This means that mandatory spending for all non-exempt programs, including Medicare and non-Medicare, will be reduced through Skip to main content.

You are here. Download PDF » 1. What sequester mechanisms are currently in play? How is the aggregate mandatory sequester determined? How is the mandatory sequester allocated? What programs are exempt? The plan was that a special congressional panel, dubbed the "super committee," would find a less painful way to cut spending.

It failed in November That left federal agencies facing what outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called "legislative madness" in the form of harsh cuts that no one wanted. But for many conservatives, sequestration is a feature, not a bug. It's "the first chance we have for real savings and deficit reduction," the tea party-aligned lobbying group FreedomWorks tells supporters on its website.

Military pay in play in game of political poker. While the Pentagon has laid out plans ranging from furloughs of hundreds of thousands of civilian workers to combat readiness training and weapons maintenance, the White House budget office hasn't specified which domestic agencies would take the biggest hits.

Opinion: Republicans, be smart about defense cuts. Congress put off the sequester until March 1 as part of the last-minute fiscal cliff deal on New Year's Day.