Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 54

BOX 1.2

SEQUESTRATION: WHAT IS IT AND WHAT IS
BREAD FOR THE WORLD DOING ABOUT IT?
Amelia Kegan, Bread for the World
In August of 2011, Congress passed the Budget Control Act, a large deficit reduction bill. It
included large, multi-year cuts to discretionary spending (yearly appropriated spending). It also
included a provision designed to induce a deal on mandatory spending cuts and tax increases.
The stick inserted in the Budget Control Act to achieve this budget deal was sequestration, a
set of automatic spending cuts over nine years that affect most federal programs. On March 1,
2013, the sequestration’s automatic cuts began to take effect.
In 2013 alone, an estimated 70,000 low-income children have been forced off of Head Start,
the federal government’s early education program. About 140,000 low-income individuals and
families are expected to lose rental assistance, forcing many to become homeless. Low-income
seniors in need of food assistance will go without an estimated 4 million meals. One third of the federal government’s
“Bread for the World
discretionary spending (annual appropriated spending)
continues to press Congress
goes to state and local governments. Cuts at the federal
to replace sequestration
level translate into teacher layoffs at the local level. Around
with a balanced and
responsible plan that
the world, over 570,000 children in developing countries
protects poor and vulnerable
will be put at greater risk of malnutrition and hunger,
populations.”
and 1.1 million small farmers will lose support they were
receiving through U.S. agricultural assistance.
Over the past few years, $2.5 trillion has been shaved off the deficit. Bread for the World has
tirelessly fought to protect funding for programs that alleviate hunger and help people move out of
poverty. Despite many efforts to defund these critical programs, most have been spared from major
cuts. For example, the proposed House budget for the 2014 fiscal year cut non-defense spending
by $5 trillion, 66 percent of which were to programs for people of limited means. That budget also
cut SNAP (formerly food stamps) by $134 billion over ten years. Every congregation in the United
States would have to raise $40,000 per year over the next ten years to make up the difference. In
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