In This Issue:

Leading the Past Week; Legislative Branch; House of Representatives; Executive Branch; Miscellaneous; and Upcoming Hearings.

Excerpt from Leading the Past Week -

On Friday evening President Obama formally notified the Office of Management and Budget to initiate the sequester, as both sides were unable, and more importantly unwilling, to reach an agreement on a plan to avert the automatic across-the-board spending cuts. Although the actual “D-Day” of the sequester initiates on March 1st, the real impact (i.e., furloughs leading to delays in government services) will not begin to take effect in earnest until April 1st. Ironically, it seems like both sides are in the same place with Democrats and Republicans counting on the American people to realize how the sequester impacts the role of government. Only, Democrats are hoping that people will realize they miss these services and Republicans are hoping that they won’t. Because the real impact is not going to readily apparent until after the current funding for the federal government runs out, it seems like the next best chance for Congress to act on the issue will conflate with their need to keep the government operational after March 27th, even if both sides are saying they want to keep the issues separate.