Sequester Is Cause for Celebration, Not Fear

DALLAS, TX: Thanks to Washington’s failure to keep the growth of government in check or even adhere to any kind of rational budget process, the Great Sequester of 2013 should be celebrated, not feared, says a new publication from the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI).

In “Time for Blunt Tools (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Sequester),” IPI president Tom Giovanetti writes that the sequester spending cuts are necessary and the first serious attempt to rein in federal spending in almost two decades.

Dismissing Washington’s terror and “infantile wails,” Giovanetti writes that the Government Class is grossly exaggerating the impact of the sequester spending cuts—which aren’t even cuts.

“For decades, federal spending has been on autopilot to grow by three to four percent each year,” writes Giovanetti. “So as is in the case of sequester, when the federal government talks about spending ‘cuts,’ they actually mean reductions in the amount that spending is scheduled to increase. Overall federal spending will still be higher in 2013 than it was in 2012, even with the sequester.”

"What truly frightens the Government Class is that the sequester may actually work, and when the curtain is pulled back, Americans will realize they don’t need all the government they’ve been told they need,” writes Giovanetti.

As for defense spending, in no way will America’s national defense be imperiled, he writes. “Defense spending will never fall below 2007 levels, and in fact will immediately begin increasing again, growing by 17 percent over the ten-year term of the sequester.”

“Those who believe in spending restraint should not be cowed by the pleadings of the Government Class into surrendering the spending reductions hard-won through the sequester process,” writes Giovanetti. “Rather, we should now begin planning the next round of sequester cuts. And, if necessary, we should begin considering the logistics of a constitutional convention designed to ratify a spending limitation amendment.”

The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) is an independent, nonprofit public policy organization based in Dallas, Texas. IPI president Tom Giovanetti is available for interview by contacting Erin Humiston at (972) 874-5139, or erin@ipi.org.