Sally Steenland: Sequestration hurts all of us, not just our most vulnerable

  It’s Day 90 of sequestration—the across-the-board spending cuts that went into effect March 1, which the Obama administration predicted would be devastating and conservatives insisted wouldn’t be so bad. Three months in, it’s worth asking how harmful the phased-in cuts have been—although that depends on whom you ask.

  When sequestration cuts furloughed air-traffic controllers in April, airline travelers rose up in fury. Congress responded with a quick legislative fix that “unfurloughed” the controllers and returned flight delays to annoying, rather than infuriating, levels.

Scott Lilly: Whack-a-Mole budgeting

  The preposterous legislative sideshow taking place around sequestration gives a pretty clear picture of how little the people who were elected to run the government actually know about it.

  Exactly four days after long-anticipated sequester furloughs began for air-traffic controllers, Congress decided the furloughs were not such a good idea after all. It also decided that perhaps it wasn’t a problem caused by an administrator trying to showboat the evils of across-the-board cuts but in fact a problem with the legislation that the members of Congress had crafted themselves—legislation directing that across-the-board cuts be taken from each program, project and activity within the $7.5 billion appropriated for air-traffic operations.

Erik Stegman and Katie Wright: Low-income victims of domestic violence facing a political super storm

  Americans across the country are bracing for the impact of the sequester, the automatic across-the-board spending cuts to domestic programs—including vital human-needs services—set for this Friday, March 1. The nation faces dire consequences should these cuts take effect, but it’s even worse for low-income women and their families suffering from domestic violence.

Steven Bucci: How will defense cuts affect you?

  Washington is abuzz with wonky discussions on potential mandatory budget cuts that will hit on Jan. 2. The process is called "sequestration." It is so technical that right now you may be tempted to move on to another article. After all, this is merely "inside Washington baseball," right? Sadly, it isn't.

  The Department of Defense (DoD) budget is set to absorb the lion's share of the New Year's cuts, which will go into effect if steps are not taken to stop them. DoD makes up about 11 percent of federal spending, but will eat 47 percent of the cuts. That's a pretty sizable chunk.