Old Triumph Over Young In Federal Spending, And Sequester Makes It Worse
For years, federal programs for seniors and those that help kids have been on a collision course.
Now, given the automatic spending cuts taking place under sequestration, the moment for real competition may have arrived.
While Medicare and Social Security will come through the sequester mostly unscathed, a broad swath of programs targeted at children — Head Start, education, nutrition assistance, child welfare — each stand to lose hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.
"There's a conflict between parts of the budget that go to younger people and that part that goes to older people," says Neil Howe, a demographer and consultant. "Up to this point, young people are on the losing side."
Groups that advocate for seniors say that this sort of "generational equity" argument is a misleading attempt to divide and conquer.