The Daily Circuit

Here are 10 other ways sequestration is going to hurt

11:06 AM, March 15, 2013

LISTEN

The funds that help soldiers and veterans go to school are just a small part of what's falling to the sequestration ax. Here are a few of the other casualties.

1. White House tours. At least for now, they've been canceled.

News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |

2. Wildlife refuges. Some will be closed; visitor services will be halted at others. (The animals are expected to keep coming, however.)

3. Head Start loses more than $400 million, and an estimated 70,000 fewer kids in the program. Here's a story about 36 of them.

4. The FBI loses $480 million.

5. The Library of Congress loses more than $30 million, just when it needs money to acquire more shelf space for its collection. Other functions of the legislative branch take hits, too.

6. NASA loses roughly $900 million, meaning it will have less to spend on private contractors, like SpaceX, and other initiatives.

7. The U.S. prison system loses more than $330 million. And because the Bureau of Prisons can't do much to reduce its population, it's looking at workforce reductions. The Department of Justice says it's worried about inmate and staff safety.

8. The FDA loses more than $200 million. According to one estimate, the cuts will mean more than 2,000 fewer food-safety inspections this year.

9. The Smithsonian loses $40 million, which will mean shorter hours at some of its facilities. The Smithsonian will also freeze hiring and cut back on maintenance and construction.

10. Cuts at the TSA and FAA mean longer lines and longer waits at airports. Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security secretary, estimates that it may take travelers twice as long to clear security:

comments powered by Disqus
Listen Now

MPR News Radio

Hourly Newscast
On Air Morning Edition®

The Daily Circuit Blog

Science:

Science Night Minnesota

Tens of thousands of people around the world have said they want to go to Mars, even if it means they will never return to Earth. Dozens of them were in the crowd Tuesday night at the Fitzgerald Theater for Science Night Minnesota — Mission to Mars. Read about Science Night.

Field Notes:

Field notes: How a school bus became a house

  When Adam Marcus told his graduate students to do something “full-scale” for their final project, he didn’t think the semester would end with a school bus-house hybrid parked behind Rapson Hall. “I said, ‘We’re going to do full scale,’” said Marcus, a University of Minnesota Architecture School design fellow. “And Hank said, ‘I’m gonna Read more