SequesterFail

Jared Bernstein took up the idea of reporting on the sequester as an ongoing slow-moving disaster; apparently on Tuesdays, I haven't noticed it before, but he's already up to installment 12. It's just links, 27 in this round, to stories of the impact of the loss of funds:

The 5% cut to the US Forest Service's $2-billion firefighting budget.

The reductions come as officials brace for a wildfire season they say might rival last year’s, when about 9.3 million acres burned, one of the largest totals on record. The West in particular faces tinderbox conditions, which, combined with high winds, proved deadly last weekend when a wildfire killed 19 members of a firefighting crew outside Yarnell, Ariz.

“This reduces our capability and significantly constrains our work in fire response” and restoring land after fires, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last month about the cuts. (Salon)

Black Forest fire, Colorado Springs, June 13. Photo by Jerilee Bennett/MCT for Los Angeles Times.

 The 5% cut to $5 million for the facilities at Assateague Island, Maryland, with the famous wild horses, visited by 2 million people per year.

Here, that impact is to our visitor entrance station, that first line of contact to our visitors. It’s to our water quality monitoring program,” says Justin Unger, acting park superintendent. 

Park officials maintain the water is safe for recreational activity, but if the budget cuts continue in the next year there could be other cuts. The park has nearly 100 seasonal and full time workers, but there is now a hiring freeze and staff reductions could be in the future. (WJLA TV, Washington)

Image from Dog Breed Info Center (no, I don't know).

The loss of 4 million meals for seniors, 2.1 million people who will be denied needed food internationally, 1.17 million farmers and small businesspeople who will miss out on antipoverty support, and more.

Meals on Wheels recipient, home delivery program, La Crosse County, Wis.: “These meals are sometimes the only meal that I have a day. I don’t drive, so I have to rely on others to get around to doctors’ appointments. I only get $16 a month for food (Moyers & Co.)

Of course on the other hand it's reducing the deficit. That's just what we need, huh, Sparky?