Under current U.S. law, automatic cuts to domestic programs and national defense will begin in 2013, because a congressional committee failed to agree on trimming America’s federal deficit. Already, many lawmakers say they want to shield favored federal programs from the budget ax, despite a veto threat from President Barack Obama.
A budget deal earlier this year specified there would be $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts, known as a "sequester," if a special “supercommittee” failed to trim the deficit by an equal amount over a 10-year period. The supercommittee’s failure leaves the sequester in place, at least for now.
President Obama says austerity is on the way. “One way or another, we will be trimming the deficit,&
