Rapid Fire May 1, 2013 – Sequester: Alternative History & Capitulation

• US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dempsey told reporters it would have been “literally impossible” for the Department of Defense to integrate sequestration in its FY14 budget request. After all, the Budget Control Act was signed by the President only 18 months before the budget was due. And preparing two budgets just in case sequestration would not be repelled was not possible, even the more so because of furloughs that were scheduled to start weeks after the legal deadline to submit the president budget. There’s a full video here, if you care to pay for someone to insult your intelligence. At least Dempsey agrees that constraints can have the benefit of pushing an organization to work more efficiently.