Defense Department officials and several defense industry executives joined to outline four sequestration scenarios in a closed-door meeting last week, Defense News reports.
Government-wide sequestration cuts call for around a $1.2 trillion reduction throughout the next decade with the Pentagon accounting for around $480 billion.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said although he wants a more comprehensive and long-term deficit-reduction deal, the more practical solution is a short-term agreement of one or two years.
Pentagon Press Secretary George Little added the DoD would prefer a more balanced budget deal to avoid the “devastating consequences of sequestration,” according to Defense News.
The four options according to Defense News include:
- Congress lets sequestration happen
- A new plan is constructed to combat sequestration during the lame duck session after the November elections
- Â Congress comes up with a $1.2 trillion cut to avert sequestration prior to the election
- Congress inserts language into a continuing resolution that delays sequestration another year or two when there is a less-heated political environment, but the government implements the first and perhaps second year of cuts, which some refer to as the “mini-sequester.â€
