Avoider Syndrome

AVOIDER SYNDROME What's that? Your vision seems a little fuzzy today? That ache in your back just isn't going away? And you don't want to deal with it? Well, just avoid it. At least, that's what Congress does. Under the Budget Control Act, which raised the debt ceiling last August, Congress had until January 15, 2012, to enact meaningful deficit reduction. But they didn't. This means that on January 2, 2013, automatic cuts are triggered. Automatic cuts? Problem solved! Well, not so fast. Let's take a look back at a formula Congress created that promised "automatic cuts" down the road to control spending in the future. CASE STUDY: SUSTAINABLE GROWTH RATE FORMULA PROMISED CUTS BY CONGRESS WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED % CUT % SPENT -15% +15% 4.8% > 2002 4.8% > 4.4% > 2003 « •1.4% 4.5% > 2004 « •1.5% 3.3% > 2005 « +1.5% 4.4% > 2006 « •0.2% -5.0% > 2007 0% -10.1% > 2008 JAN-JUN) « -0.5% 10.6% > 2008 (JUL-DEC) « .0.5% FROM 2007 LEVEL Clearly even automatic cuts that are designed to be relatively painless are tempting for Congress to block. Why is this? Because Congress enacts ill-planned future cuts and leaves the real work to the next guy. So what can be done to remedy this? Make cuts today-not ones that are triggered tomorrow. SOURCE // CRS PUBLIC NOTICE