Unless Congress acts soon to avoid sequestration — which is not a distinct probability — $85 billion in automatic federal spending cuts would take effect Friday.
Here, according to a White House summary broken down state-by-state by The Associated Press, is the amount of those cuts and how they would affect Maryland and West Virginia this year:
• Maryland: $14.4 million for primary and secondary education, the jobs of 200 teachers and aides, and $9.7 billion for staff who help children with disabilities. Head Start and Early Head Start would be cut for 800 children, 770 low-income students would lose help to pay for college and 440 fewer would get work-study jobs.
• West Virginia: $5.8 million for primary and secondary education, with about 80 teacher and aide jobs at risk. About 500 children would lose Head Start and Early Head Start, and $3.6 million for 40 staff jobs would be lost for children with disabilities.
• Civilian defense: $353.7 million in Maryland, with 46,000 employees furloughed, and $1.4 million in West Virginia, with about 2,000 furloughed.
• Environmental funding: $3.1 million in Maryland and $2 million in West Virginia.
• Fish and wildlife protection: $467,000 in Maryland and $488,000 in West Virginia.
• Maryland would lose $551,000 in infectious disease funding, $1.6 million for substance abuse treatment and prevention, $595,000 for health departments (meaning about 14,900 fewer HIV tests) and $140,000 for vaccinations (affecting 2,050 children).
• West Virginia would lose $430,000 in substance abuse funding, $177,000 for response to infectious diseases, natural disasters and other public health threats, plus $52,000 for children’s vaccinations and $62,000 for HIV testing.
• Law enforcement: $317,000 in Maryland and $96,000 in West Virginia.
• Domestic violence services: $124,000 in Maryland and $39,000 in West Virginia.
• Senior citizens meals: $877,000 in Maryland and $160,000 in West Virginia.
• Job search assistance $66,000 (affecting 9,270 people) in Maryland and $270,000 in West Virginia (affecting 9,230 people).
The White House compiled numbers from federal agencies and its own budget office, and did not list which states had the flexibility to move money around to cover shortfalls.
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Bad news
Bad news
Here’s how sequestration would affect Md., W.Va.
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