With Congress debating the FY 2018 Budget and a tax reduction plan moving through Congress as well, there is an increasing likelihood that federal spending patterns in the Washington region will change in either magnitude (value) or distribution among agencies and programs or both in the coming year and beyond. The Washington region’s economy has weathered federal spending reductions before so the consequences are known. By examining the economic impacts of reductions in federal spending precipitated by the Budget Control Act of 2011, the impacts of these spending reductions on the region’s economy and its job holders and their incomes can be measured. Overtime, the consequences of these initial spending reductions mandated under the Sequester in 2013 can be traced as their secondary effects moved through the economy. Not all sectors experienced the same impacts and their magnitudes were not the same in all jurisdictions or were they experienced at the same times throughout the region and across its economy.
What are the Economic Consequences of a Reduction in Federal Spending?
October 2017
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