Black Friday Spending Spree (in Washington)

American shoppers aren’t the only ones getting ready to spend big this holiday season.

In Washington, members of the budget conference committee are considering several options that could increase spending by up to an additional $100 billion.

What’s standing in their way is sequestration: the automatic spending cut mechanism President Obama signed into law with the Budget Control Act (BCA). Sequestration enforces spending caps on the discretionary budget, which includes those domestic programs that brought you the infamous IRS Star Trek parody video and the $325,000 RoboSquirrel. The reductions disproportionately fall on defense, and lawmakers should do a better job of prioritizing this core constitutional function while staying within the agreed-upon spending levels.
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