As President Barack Obama continued to put pressure on Congressional Republicans to take steps to avoid a series of automatic cuts called the sequester, the White House released on Sunday, a state-by-state breakdown should the sequester take effect beginning March 1, 2013.
According to the White House, hundreds of thousands of middle class jobs would be threatened in Florida and there would cuts to vital services for children, seniors, people with mental illness and men and women in uniform.
Specifically, in Florida, approximately $54.5 million in funding for primary and secondary education would be lost in 2013, putting around 750 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition, about 95,000 fewer students would be served and approximately 130 fewer schools would receive funding. In addition, Florida will lose approximately $31.1 million in funds for about 380 teachers, aides and staff who help children with disabilities.
As another example of how harmful the automatic spending cuts would be, regarding Head Start and Early Head Start services, these would be eliminated for approximately 2,700 children in Florida, reducing access to critical early education.
A whole host of other areas would be affected – approximately 31,000 civilian Department of Defense employees in Florida would be furloughed, reducing gross pay by around $183.2 million in total. As well, funding for Air Force operations in Florida would be cut by about $23 million.
And on and on….
See the full impact of the sequester – automatic spending cuts – on Florida HERE.
