Sen. Ben Cardin: Failure to act will exact a heavy toll on millions

On March 1, automatic, across-the-board spending cuts will begin to take effect, cutting $1.2 trillion from defense and nondefense programs over the next 10 years. These automatic cuts are known as sequestration and they will have a devastating effect on millions of Americans.

If Congress fails to act to reduce our budget deficit today, sequestration will result in a meat-ax approach to reducing our deficit. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, sequestration for fiscal year 2013 alone will require across-the-board cuts of approximately $42.7 billion in defense and ...