With excruciating detail, the White House's budget office on Friday laid out exactly where it will have to cut $109 billion from federal spending in January, including $11.1 billion from Medicare and $54.7 billion from defense spending.The defense cuts include $21.5 billion from operations and maintenance for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines and the reserves and National Guard, and nearly $1.4 billion from military aide to Afghanistan, with tens of billions coming from procurement and other Pentagon accounts.
"The report leaves no question that the sequestration would be deeply destructive to national security, domestic investments, and core government functions," the White House's budget office said in the report.
Everything from fencing and technology along the U.S.-Mexico border to the government's own internal watchdogs to local environmental programs are also on the chopping block.
The cuts fall particularly heavy on the federal civilian workforce, where staffing levels and salaries would be docked more than 8 percent almost across the board.
Also facing slashes are the National Institutes of Health, which would see a $2.5 billion cut, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which would have to trim $464 million, according to the 394-page report, issued by the White House Office of Management and Budget in response to a law.
And at a time when embassy security is under question following the recent attacks, that account would be cut by $129 million.
Why is it that when teh 0ne is fund raising and going to parties I also get visions of Nero fiddling while Rome burned?