Tennessee to Face Reduction of Funding in Sequester
BY Nigel Manuel
First there was the fiscal cliff, now there is the sequester.
Set to happen on March 1st, these are automatic spending cuts that are meant encourage Congress to come up with a deficit reduction plan.
Today, the White House released reports that details what cuts would be made to individual states if the sequester were to happen.
Tennessee would lose approximately $60 million in fundings for various programs. That includes $36.9 million in cuts to military readiness by furloughing 7,000 civilian Department of Defense employees and a $1.9 million cut to army base operations.
In addition to financial cuts, work study and head start services would also face reductions. Around 720 fewer students will be able to get work study jobs to assist in paying for college. Head start and early head start would be unavailable for around 1,200 children.
Vaccination for children would be cut by $177,000. That means about 2,590 children won’t be able to receive the MMR, tetanus, whooping cough, influenza, or the Hepatitis B vaccine.
Senior citizens would also be affected by these cuts. Tennessee would lose $1,031,000 in funding for meals for senior citizens. That would mean cuts to programs like Meals on Wheels.
In addition to these statewide cuts, there are nationwide cuts. These cuts would delay new drug approval, shorten operating hours or closure of parks, fewer food manufacturing plant inspections, reduction in HUD voucher program funding, delays for social security applicants, and cuts to the WIC program that would drop around 600,000 from March to September.