§935 Calculating a sequestration

Summary

OMB must pick one single percentage to cut the budget amounts of nonexempt mandatory (direct) spending so the savings, counted the way explained below, cancel any budget-year debit on the applicable PAYGO scorecard. If that percentage would be larger than 4 percent, Medicare programs listed in section 906(d) are cut by 4 percent, and the cut for all other nonexempt direct spending is increased as needed so the combined savings hit the target. OMB applies this only to programs inside the unified budget and follows the exemptions in section 11. OMB counts three kinds of outlay reductions toward the needed savings: cuts in crop support payments in a crop year that lower outlays in the budget year and the next fiscal year; cuts to Medicare payments measured over the 12-month period after the sequestration order that lower outlays in the budget year and the next fiscal year; and cuts in other nonexempt mandatory programs in the budget year that lower outlays in the budget year and the next fiscal year.