The New Haven Register's recent Forum article by Harold Sirkin makes the mandated "sequester" reduction of $85 billion from our multi-trillion dollar budget seem like a piece of cake. And he's right, roughly only 3 percent.
But wait. The discretionary spending side of our budget, including military, accounts for only a third of the total as programs required by law such as Social Security, Medicare, veterans' benefits and some others are exempt for now.
The remaining programs that require cuts are then no longer faced with a 3 percent cutback but roughly triple that. Any wonder that so many agencies like Education, Transportation and the military are now crying "ouch?"
Stanley Kavan