Money & budgets
sequestration
Automatic across-the-board spending cuts triggered when Congress breaches a budget limit. Designed to be painful enough that nobody lets it happen.
In full
Sequestration applies percentage cuts to affected accounts without regard to program merit, which is the point: it is meant to force agreement rather than to be used. The 2013 sequester under the Budget Control Act showed the mechanism can in fact take effect, and its blunt design drew criticism across the political spectrum.
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A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.