For more than 40 years the Historic Documents series has made primary source research easy by presenting full primary documents and excerpts from documents on the important events of each year for the United States and the world. Each volume includes approximately 70 events with well over 100 documents from the previous year, from official or other influential reports and surveys, to speeches from leaders and opinion makers, to court cases, legislation, testimony, and much more.

Historic Documents is renowned for the well-written and informative background, history, and context it provides for each document. Each volume begins with an insightful essay that sets the year's events in context, and each document or group of documents is preceded by a comprehensive introduction that provides background information on the event. Full-source citations are provided. Readers have easy access to material through a detailed, thematic table of contents and a cumulative five-year index that directs them to related material in earlier volumes.

President Obama Issues Sequestration Order: March 1, 2013

President Obama Issues Sequestration Order: March 1, 2013

President Obama issues sequestration order: March 1, 2013

On March 1, 2013, President Barack Obama signed an executive order setting in motion a series of budget cuts known as the sequester. The $85 billion reduction in federal coffers would impact defense and domestic spending equally. Although federal agencies made clear the impact that such cuts would have—including furloughs, a reduction in welfare benefits, and flight delays—Congress failed to reach an agreement on how to replace all the across-the-board cuts with a more targeted approach. Instead, the only passable bill was one that would shift money around to, among other things, delay furloughs for members of the military.

Debt Ceiling Fix and the Impending Sequester

In May 2011, the United States ...

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