Shutdown Shutters Programs That Matter to Real People
Cornell University
Media advisory on government shutdown
Automatic federal budget cuts, known as the sequester, which began March 1, have had minimal impact on federal regulatory agencies, finds a new report on the U.S. budget for fiscal years 2013 and 2014.
The summer sequester effect on federal employee morale could potentially leave a gaping hole in the federal workforce for years to come due to the brain-drain from federal ranks which may ironically end up costing the government more in the long run says American University's Robert Tobias.
On May 7, 2013, NCI Director Harold Varmus sent an email to all NCI grantees informing them of reductions to NCI’s budget for fiscal year 2013. The reductions, due in large part to sequestration, are spread across NCI’s portfolio to protect NCI’s ability to issue new and competing research project grants.
ATS 2013, PHILADELPHIA – Innovative and potentially game-changing clinical trials to develop new drug regimens to prevent and treat tuberculosis (TB), the second leading global infectious disease killer, are in jeopardy due to federal "sequestration" funding cuts.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, one of the nation’s top cancer research and prevention centers and pioneer of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation, today called on Congress to support restoring full funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which supports pioneering research that saves lives. Funding was recently cut due to sequestration.
Physicians and patients alike are feeling the impact of Medicare reimbursement cuts that went into effect on January 1, 2013. With an additional 2% sequestration cut to roll out on April 1, it’s likely that physicians who treat Medicare patients will be faced with difficult decisions as operating margins continue to shrink.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high Thursday. Is the surge odd given that the federal government’s forced spending cuts are now a reality? Is it due to other world markets not rebounding quickly? Will the drop in the market that has occurred Friday and Monday continue, or will February data on housing starts and building permits, expected to be released today, counter that trajectory? And what can those with a 401(k) or extra cash to invest expect in the weeks and months ahead?
The federal budget sequester went into effect March 1 after a lack of Congressional action to avoid the automatic spending cuts. Effective April 1, Medicare payments to hospitals, doctors, and other health care providers will be reduced by 2%.
Ronald M. Levin, JD, administrative law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, recently testified on the REINS Act before the House Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law. “Under the REINS Act, the dysfunction that now afflicts Congress in the enactment of laws would spread to the implementation of the laws,” he says.
As the federal government assesses an $85 billion reduction in its 2013 budget, an included 2 percent Medicare cut will hurt beneficiaries who need medical eye care, according to ophthalmologists – medical doctors who specialize in the diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment of eye disease. In a survey conducted by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, approximately 72 percent of responding member physicians predicted they would be forced to make decisions that will negatively affect the ability of their Medicare patients to receive the highest quality of medical care.
A new report by the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) examines the potential impact of sequestration on community health centers and their patients and communities.
A group of Seattle’s leading health research institutions have sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to take action to prevent sequestration funding cuts from taking effect on Friday, March 1.
Unless Congress acts by this Friday, “a series of automatic cuts – called the sequester – will take effect that threaten hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs, and cut vital services for children, seniors, people with mental illness and our men and women in uniform,” according to a White House report issued Sunday. Many Republican lawmakers, on the other hand, say President Obama and the Democrats are overstating the likely impact of the sequester.
Today, with threats of serious budget cuts looming, a new report demonstrates the effectiveness of the Medicaid program in addressing the health and financial needs of children and other vulnerable populations. The synthesis, entitled "Medicaid Works: A Review of How Public Insurance Protects the Health and Finances of Children and Other Vulnerable Populations" examines the program that, since its inception in 1965, has been serving as a lifeline to millions of our nation’s most seriously ill and impoverished citizens.
In an op-ed in today's Washington Post, Gordon Adams, a professor at American University’s School of International Service, calls for more Pentagon budget cuts. Adams is a former associate director for national security and international affairs at the Office of Management and Budget.
Social Security’s yearly cost-of living adjustments (COLA) are targeted for reduction through a proposed “chained COLA” formula, and that could be a huge problem for those dependent on Social Security income. “COLA is an invaluable feature of Social Security,” says Merton C. Bernstein, LLB, a nationally recognized expert on Social Security. According to Bernstein, Republican “reformers” propose to reduce COLA claiming that the current method of calculating it overstates inflation. “This unrealistically assumes that people have the opportunity to buy lower priced substitutes when millions of people lack access to markets that offer such choices,” he says.
More American families are turning to federal assistance to heat their homes during the winter, with many more families eligible for but not taking advantage of the program, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.
Odette Lienau, an expert on international economic relations and an assistant professor of Law at Cornell University, comments on the recent announcement that Standard & Poor’s will revise the United States credit rating from “stable” to “negative.”
Sean Nicholson, professor of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University, Research Director of the Upstate Health Research Network, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, explains the House GOP plan to reduce federal spending by overhauling Medicare.
Christine Ries, professor of economics at Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, offers her views on why Representative Paul Ryan’s budget plan is moving the debate in the right direction.
In a study on the relationship between unemployment and the risk of death, researchers found that the risk of death was 63% higher in those who experienced an episode of unemployment than those who did not.
Dr. Arterton has been actively involved in politics at the national level and is an expert in political institutions and political leadership. He oversees the GW Battleground Poll. He has served as a polling consultant for "Newsweek" and a consultant on public opinion surveys for the Gallup Organization.
A government shutdown is looming and many politicians who are claiming “we’re broke” are proposing short-term or long-term federal budget plans with steep budget cuts as the only option to reduce the deficit. “But it looks like budget deficits are being driven in part by a deliberate strategy to sustain them, so policymakers are forced to cut spending,” says Timothy McBride, PhD, economist and associate dean for public health at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. “The evidence certainly supports the theory that the Republicans are using a strategy of ‘starving the beast,’” he says.
Harold Bierman, Jr., an expert on taxation and Professor of Management at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, comments on the inefficiency of federal income tax law and the need to completely revise it.
The meltdown of private pension plans, 401(k)s and Individual Retirement Accounts during the recession demonstrates that Social Security is more essential than ever, says Merton C. Bernstein, LLB, the Walter D. Coles Professor Emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. Bernstein discussed the crucial role of Social Security in a report for the university’s Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy. According to Bernstein, Social Security is on course to provide full benefits to its expected beneficiaries through 2036 due to its multi-trillion dollar trust fund.
Research by McGill Sociology Professor Eran Shor, working in collaboration with researchers from Stony Brook University, has revealed that unemployment increases the risk of premature mortality by 63 per cent. Shor reached these conclusions by surveying existing research covering 20 million people in 15 (mainly western) countries, over the last 40 years.