Rep. Brooks ‘cautiously optimistic’ Congress can find way around sequester

HASC is a reference to the House Armed Services Committee, and Brooks said he is working with committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) on a way to prevent disproportionate defense cuts.

{mosads}Last year’s Budget Control Act (BCA) calls for $600 billion in defense cuts over the next decade, and another $600 billion from a range of social services.

“Instead of re-examining spending priorities or growing America’s economy, sequestration disproportionately attacks the federal government’s No. 1 priority: national defense,” Brooks wrote. “Defense is 17 percent of federal spending. Under the BCA, 50 percent of all spending cuts are national defense.”

House Republicans this week will likely pass legislation that eliminates the BCA’s required cuts to 2013 spending, and replace them with cuts to mandatory programs to make up the difference. Republicans are hoping that these cuts, plus reduced discretionary caps for the rest of the decade, will create the $1.2 trillion in needed cuts.

But the cuts to mandatory spending are likely to be seen as controversial this week from the viewpoint of Democrats. Among other things, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act would cut $33.2 billion over 10 years in federal food stamp assistance, ending the government’s liquidation authority over financial services that was created in the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, impose medical liability reform and cut grants to establish health insurance exchanges.