President Barack Obama officially signed an order mandating $85 billion in spending cuts known as sequestration, written and agreed upon by Congress in the Budget Control Act of 2011, on Friday night. The full text, via the White House:
SEQUESTRATION ORDER FOR FISCAL YEAR 2013 PURSUANT
TO SECTION 251A OF THE BALANCED BUDGET AND
EMERGENCY DEFICIT CONTROL ACT, AS AMENDED
By the authority vested in me as President by the laws of the United States of America, and in accordance with section 251A of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended (the “Act”), 2 U.S.C. 901a, I hereby order that budgetary resources in each non-exempt budget account be reduced by the amount calculated by the Office of Management and Budget in its report to the Congress of March 1, 2013.
Pursuant to sections 250(c)(6), 251A, and 255(e) of the Act, budgetary resources subject to sequestration shall be new budget authority, unobligated balances of defense function accounts carried over from prior fiscal years, direct spending authority, and obligation limitations.
All sequestrations shall be made in strict accordance with the requirements of section 251A of the Act and the specifications of the Office of Management and Budget’s report of March 1, 2013, prepared pursuant to section 251A(11) of the Act.
BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 1, 2013.
