Whistle Pig - I agree and think you are right with your summation. All of us in the working world just had 2% extra taken from our pay checks again starting in January (it was really added back since it had been temporarialy suspended) and the world did not end. We are not talking about a lot more from the Federal Government - 2.4%. The sun will still rise.
Ah, 2%. My wife and I moved from VA to MD. To make things worse, we moved to Montgomery County. Instead of the nice 2% dip in pay, it was closer to 8-10%. That's the 2% plus higher state tax plus an annoyingly high county tax.
Did we feel that tax increase? HOOOOO yeah we did. It was enough that, as we considered settling down, did we really want to buy a house and lose that much? No.
$85,000,000,000 is a drop in the $16,000,000,000,000+ bucket. I 100% agree with that. Entitlement spending is the big monster in 20 years that will kill us.
BUT, I also think a 7-9% cut or "spending limit" WILL be felt at an organzational level. Either training or travel or something else will be cut. That's important for professionals who need continuing education for their licenses, or development. But it is also an easy cut.
There are areas we don't even think about. I like burgers, specifically cheeseburgers. Burgers (generally) are slaughtered cows. Every slaughter (cow, pig, chickens etc) require a USDA representative to be on site, watching. Those programs are subject to the same cuts. Less represetative times = less slaughters. Less meat readily available on the market = higher prices.
Or, an agency has a report it's required to complete and distribute (transparency). It has to cut across the board, and asks for a 10% cut in costs for the publication. The agency goes to the private sector printer, tells them to cut costs.
Let's say they cut $10,000 in costs. Not bad. Now that printer has how many contracts with federal employers? How many times will he have to cut costs for other agencies? Suggendly it's not $10,000.... for him it's $1,000,000. Yes, it's tax payer money, but here's a taxpaying private sector member, who owns a business, and he's getting hit.
I'm not defending contracts. I'm not saying cuts shouldn't happen. And I'm not saying this isn't the only way that Congress will actually act. I am saying we can forget that this is a "drop in the bucket" for the agencies affected (but it is when considering U.S. federal spending overall).