Sequestration cuts demanded by the Obama administration will put "nearly 1 million small business jobs at risk across the country," the Washington Post has reported.
The Aerospace Industries Association issued a report last week saying the looming sequestration imperils 956,181 small-business jobs across the country, over half of which are in defense-related industries.
The Washington Post wrote:
The across-the-board "sequestration" cuts are scheduled to go into effect in January in accordance with The Budget Control Act of 2011, which mandates more than $1 trillion in budget reductions over the next nine years. Small businesses in defense-related industries are expected to lose around 520,000 jobs as a result, the Aerospace Industries Association study showed, and around 956,000 across all industries.
On Thursday, several small business owners told lawmakers that the mere possibility of spending cuts is already preventing them from planning effectively for future contracts.
This report comes as President Obama, who came under fire for his "you didn’t build that" comments about small businesses, has tried to bolster his small business bona fides.
Yesterday on Fox News, Robert Gibbs, former Obama press secretary, defended the Obama administration’s insistence on the defense cuts that threaten over half a million jobs, placing the blame on the "super committee."