Democratic Congressional Districts Face Tough Hit From Military Cuts

If you make yourself dependent on government spending ...

While both parties are beginning to position themselves for the showdown over the $1.2 trillion in automatic "sequestration" cuts that take effect on March 1, Democrats are generally seen as having the advantage. The programs they're most concerned about (Medicare, Medicaid, nutrition assistance) are, for the most part, spared the budget axe. The same is not true for Republicans. Sequestration makes deep cuts to the military budget, a source of intensifying concern for conservatives, who have already begun fighting amongst themselves over how to respond. The emerging view among Washington insiders is that the sequester will probably not be averted before March 1, but that Republicans will probably make concessions as the cuts begin to bite.

But a new study out Thursday morning from Bloomberg Government (subscription only) does quite a bit to upend that logic. The study shows that Democratic congressional districts will be harder hit by the military cuts than Republican ones, and that eight of the top 10 districts that will experience the deepest cuts are represented by Democrats. Robert Levinson, the Bloomberg Government defense analyst who conducted the study, found that "Democrats won 47 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives in the 2012 election, but 58 percent of the military's fiscal 2012 prime contract spending went to companies performing work in those districts." Among the top districts, military spending in those represented by Democrats averaged $893 million this year, vs. $573 million in those represented by Republicans.