By Theodoric Meyer, ProPublica

We've updated our sequestration explainer to reflect new developments. It was originally published on April 11, 2013.

When the annual White House Easter Egg Hunt faced cancellation this year due to the package of mandatory budget cuts known as sequestration, the National Park Service kicked into high gear. It rescued the event — held since 1878 — with money from "corporate sponsors and the sale of commemorative wooden eggs," according to the Washington Post.

The nation's airline passengers also caught a break last month when Congress passed (and President Obama quickly signed) a bill allowing the Federal Aviation Administration to shift some funds and halt the furloughs of air traffic controllers that had been blamed for long flight delays around the country.

But other programs haven't been so lucky. Children in Indiana have been cut from the federally funded Head Start preschool program, and one Head Start program in Maine is being cut altogether. Furloughs have begun for employees of agencies from the U.S. Park Police to the Environmental Protection Agency. And cuts to Medicare have forced cancer clinics to turn away thousands of patients who are being treated with drugs the clinics can no longer afford.

We've taken a look at what's actually happened in the two months since sequestration took effect.

Remind me, what is sequestration again?

Remember the clash over the debt ceiling back in 2011?

When Republicans and Obama struck a deal to raise it, they created a "super committee" of six Democrats and six Republicans and gave them three and a half months to hash out $1.2 trillion worth of cuts to the federal budget over the next decade. If they failed, a package of automatic cuts designed to slash funding to programs dear to both parties (military spending, in the Republicans' case, and Medicare and other domestic programs in the Democrats') would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013.

Needless to say, the super committee failed, leading to the cuts we're seeing now.

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“Exxon Hates Your Children” ad hits the airwaves: Hard hitting ad targeting subsidies to air in multiple markets this weekend.

Countering a multi-million dollar onslaught of advertising by the oil industry in defense of its subsidies, three progressive organizations re-launched ExxonHatesYourChildren.com today. The provocative campaign consists of a web site and a TV ad that will is crowd funded by supporters online.

Having now surpassed $12,500 in funds raised in mostly small donations from individuals around the country and 118,000 views on YouTube, the hard-hitting ad - called “Genius” by Grist.org - will begin hitting the airwaves in key markets this weekend.

The campaign targets $10 billion in fossil fuel subsidies provided annually by Congress. Not a single fossil fuel subsidy was eliminated in the deal that was ultimately struck in the fiscal cliff negotiations; in fact, tens of millions of dollars in subsidies to coal and oil companies were extended, on top of the billions in ongoing subsidies that continue.

Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute presented their latest “State of American Energy” report on Tuesday, which pushes for less regulation, more oil and gas production, and continuing subsidies.

“The American Petroleum Institute, Exxon’s mouthpiece, laid out a vision that spells disaster for the climate and our future,” said Steve Kretzmann, Executive Director of Oil Change International. “It’s time to stop subsidizing an industry that is hell-bent on using our tax money to destroy the planet for future generations.”

The ad will air in Washington, DC, New York City and Denver in the initial round starting Friday, January 11th. Denver was included by the campaign to ensure the ad is seen by some of the same viewers who were subjected in late 2012 to ads from the American Petroleum Institute defending the subsidies the “Exxon Hates Your Children” ad is targeting.

“The fact remains that Exxon and its counterparts in the fossil fuel industry are spending every day imperiling our futures just so they can make a profit,” said John Sellers, Executive Director of The Other 98%. “And what’s more, they’re making their profits on the backs of American taxpayers. It’s time for that to end.”

“The climate isn’t waiting for us to act. Every day we subsidize this dirty industry is a day we are moving in the wrong direction and giving our kids a scarier future,” said Drew Hudson, Executive Director of Environmental Action.

Details on the initial advertisement airings are as follows:

Denver - 6949, COMCAST, Denver DMA Interconnect

MSNBC

Friday, January 11th, 7p-8p The Rachel Maddow Show
Saturday, January 12th, 6a-8a UP With Chris Hayes

[Via priceofoil.org]
Washington, DC - 6030, COMCAST, Washington Interconnect

MSNBC

Friday, January 11th, 8p-9p The Rachel Maddow Show
Saturday, January 12th, 7a-9a UP with Chris Hayes
Sunday, January 13th, 7a-9a UP with Chris Hayes

New York City - 0201, VIAMEDIA, INC., Viamedia/NYC Roll-Up Zone, NY

MSNBC

Friday, January 11th, 9p-10p The Rachel Maddow Show
Saturday, January 12th, 8a-10a UP with Chris Hayes

A conservative advocacy group has targeted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, running ads in his home state of Kentucky highlighting his key role in negotiating a deal to avert the fiscal cliff. Brent Bozell, the president of For America, the group pushing the ads, called them a “statement to make it emphatically clear that what the minority leader did was 100 percent unacceptable. Conservatives are going to hold him responsible for this.” McConnell negotiated with Democrats to create a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, although many Republicans felt betrayed by the ultimate deal, which allowed for tax increases.

The ads read, “Mitch McConnell: Whose side are you on?” with the image of a morose McConnell wedged between pictures of a smiling Vice President Joe Biden and smirking President Barack Obama.The ads will be distributed through Google display ads and will also run on conservative websites such as the Drudge Report and the Daily Caller.

In a revealing interview with The Wall Street Journal, House Speaker John Boehner discussed the conversations he had with President Obama during closed-door fiscal-cliff negotiations. Appearing to have a case of battle fatigue after weeks of negotiations, at one point in the interview Boehner said "I need this job like I need a hole in the head." He says he was most shocked by Obama saying that Washington doesn’t have a spending problem. The speaker, just entering his second term, also explained his notorious “Go f--k yourself” snap at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “I was in Ohio, and Harry’s on the Senate floor calling me a dictator and all kinds of nasty things. You know, I don’t lose my temper. I never do. But I was shocked at what Harry was saying about me,” he said. Boehner also discussed his decision to vote for the Senate tax package, saying a "no" vote would do "serious damage to the economy.”

"What stunned House Speaker John Boehner more than anything else during his prolonged closed-door budget negotiations with Barack Obama was this revelation: "At one point several weeks ago," Mr. Boehner says, "the president said to me, 'We don't have a spending problem.' "

"I am talking to Mr. Boehner in his office on the second floor of the Capitol, 72 hours after the historic House vote to take America off the so-called fiscal cliff by making permanent the Bush tax cuts on most Americans, but also to raise taxes on high earners. In the interim, Mr. Boehner had been elected to serve his second term as speaker of the House. Throughout our hourlong conversation, as is his custom, he takes long drags on one cigarette after another."

"Mr. Boehner looks battle weary from five weeks of grappling with the White House. He's frustrated that the final deal failed to make progress toward his primary goal of "making a down payment on solving the debt crisis and setting a path to get real entitlement reform." At one point he grimly says: "I need this job like I need a hole in the head."'

"The president's insistence that Washington doesn't have a spending problem, Mr. Boehner says, is predicated on the belief that massive federal deficits stem from what Mr. Obama called "a health-care problem." Mr. Boehner says that after he recovered from his astonishment—"They blame all of the fiscal woes on our health-care system"—he replied: "Clearly we have a health-care problem, which is about to get worse with ObamaCare. But, Mr. President, we have a very serious spending problem." He repeated this message so often, he says, that toward the end of the negotiations, the president became irritated and said: "I'm getting tired of hearing you say that."'

"With the two sides so far from agreeing even on the nature of the country's fiscal challenge, making progress on how to address it was difficult. Mr. Boehner became so agitated with the lack of progress that he cursed at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "Those days after Christmas," he explains, "I was in Ohio, and Harry's on the Senate floor calling me a dictator and all kinds of nasty things. You know, I don't lose my temper. I never do. But I was shocked at what Harry was saying about me. I came back to town. Saw Harry at the White House. And that was when that was said," he says, referring to a pointed "go [blank] yourself" addressed to Mr. Reid."

"Mr. Boehner confirms that at one critical juncture he asked Mr. Obama, after conceding on $800 billion in new taxes, "What am I getting?" and the president replied: "You don't get anything for it. I'm taking that anyway."'

And here you have the latest go-to Republican talking point, "But, Mr. President, we have a very serious spending problem."

Yet in the last year in the Budget Control Act, and the 2011 spring budget deal to avert a shutdown, Congress actually cut $1.5 trillion in spending. After reduced interest payments due to a smaller debt are factored in, a good deal more than $1.5 trillion is cut from spending. The interest savings amount to about $250 billion, bringing the total deficit reduction achieved to date to more than $1.7 trillion. And before that, there was the $700 billion in reduced Medicare spending passed in the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

We have indeed already confronted the "spending problem."

Not that this will keep the GOP from trying to do away with those pesky "entitlements."

Harry Reid went on the offensive today against John Boehner:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said this morning that it "looks like" Congress will fail to come to a deal to avert the year-end fiscal cliff, blaming the failure on House Speaker John Boehner's "dictatorship" running the lower chamber.

"It looks like that's where we're headed," Reid said. "I don't know, time-wise, how it can happen now."

It's not exactly a surprise — leaders left Washington last week without any imminent signs of a deal in the making. But it's a grim warning just days before tax hikes and automatic spending cuts begin to take effect.

Reid opened the Senate session by launching into a lengthy criticism of the House and Boehner, saying he "seems to care more about his Speakership" than making a deal on the cliff.

The House is being run "by a dictatorship of the Speaker," Reid said. He accused Boehner of waiting until the election of the Speaker on Jan. 3 to get involved with negotiations. And he urged the lower chamber to pass the Middle Class Tax Cut Act, which the Senate narrowly passed in July. The bill made permanent all of the Bush-era tax cuts on incomes of less than $250,000 for couples and $200,000 for individuals.

Reid also slammed the House for not being in session on Thursday. He said that instead of being in Washington, Republicans are "out watching movies."

Meanwhile, President Obama cut his vacation to Hawaii short and returned to Washington on Wednesday, in an effort to reach a deal on the fiscal cliff. Only five days remain before the automatic spending cuts and tax increases are scheduled to take effect. Obama left for Hawaii on Friday after weeks of unsuccessful negotiations, but said he would return to the Capitol this week in an effort to get Republicans to agree to a stopgap measure or obtain a broader deal. Congress returns to D.C. on Thursday, but no talks are scheduled and there was no virtually no communication between the White House and Republicans over the holiday weekend.

As it turns out, House Republicans don't have plans to return:

"According to House Republican leadership aides, House GOP leaders have not yet called their members back to Washington D.C., and WILL NOT be in session tomorrow for legislative business. According to one GOP aide, "It's up to Senate Democrats to act right now."

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A new ad from AFSCME, SEIU and the NEA, this one It's a Wonderful Life-themed, pins House Speaker John Boehner as the bad guy in fiscal curb negotiations. The ad, backed by a six-figure buy, will run in the districts of Republican Reps. Rick Crawford of Arkansas, Mike Coffman of Colorado, John Fleming of Louisiana, Erik Paulsen of Minnesota, and Scott Rigell of Virginia, as well as on national cable.

"What will happen if House Speaker John Boehner gets his way on the budget?

Welcome to Boehnerville, where the rich won't pay their fair share; our children's educations will be cut; Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will be put at risk; and the economic recovery would falter.

Call your member of Congress and tell them to stand up for middle-class families. Because in America, everyone deserves a wonderful life."

The ad launched yesterday and will run through the weekend.

And while your making those calls, don't forget to tell President Obama to take Social Security cuts off the table, in current and in future negotiations.

H/T Laura Clawson

Progress Kentucky, in partnership with The Action, held their first direct action in support of middle class tax cuts by targeting Senator Mitch McConnell at his house with "fiscal cliff caroling".

Progress Kentucky is a different kind of Super PAC: a grassroots movement that will use traditional media, new media, and direct action to hold Senator Mitch McConnell accountable for his failed record.

President Barack Obama said in his weekly address on Saturday urged House Republicans to extend the middle class income tax cuts for 98% of Americans and 97% of small businesses without delay, and made clear that a balanced approach to deficit reduction means that they -- and we all know this means John Boehner -- must agree to ask the wealthiest Americans to pay higher tax rates.

The Democratic-controlled Senate has approved the measure, but Obama said House Republicans have "put forward an unbalanced plan that actually lowers rates for the wealthiest Americans." Obama supports a plan to raise taxes on families earning more than $250,000.

"Now, Congress can avoid all this by passing a law that prevents a tax hike on the first $250,000 of everybody’s income. That means 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses wouldn’t see their income taxes go up by a single dime. Even the wealthiest Americans would get a tax cut on the first $250,000 of their income. And families everywhere would enjoy some peace of mind."

"The Senate has already done their part. Now we’re just waiting for Republicans in the House to do the same thing. But so far, they’ve put forward an unbalanced plan that actually lowers rates for the wealthiest Americans. If we want to protect the middle class, then the math just doesn’t work."

While Mr. Speaker mulls this all over, he might want to keep in mind that a new poll released Friday revealed that 48 percent of Americans trust Obama to come up with solutions to current economic problems, compared to just 32 percent who trust congressional Republicans to do the same. So come January, if that majority of Americans see their taxes raised, they certainly won't forget it the next time they head to the polls.

"We can and should do more than just extend middle class tax cuts. I stand ready to work with Republicans on a plan that spurs economic growth, creates jobs and reduces our deficit – a plan that gives both sides some of what they want. I’m willing to find ways to bring down the cost of health care without hurting seniors and other Americans who depend on it. And I’m willing to make more entitlement spending cuts on top of the $1 trillion dollars in cuts I signed into law last year."

Mr. President, I really wish you would stop giving away benefits for the people who need them the most. The Republican congress would just as soon hit you over the head with the silver tray that you're trying to hand over those entitlement cuts on.

"But if we’re serious about reducing our deficit while still investing in things like education and research that are important to growing our economy – and if we’re serious about protecting middle-class families – then we’re also going to have to ask the wealthiest Americans to pay higher tax rates. That’s one principle I won’t compromise on."

Here's the problem, the GOP does not care about anyone but America's wealthy few, -- we all know this -- isn't it time everyone let John Boehner know what they think of his obstruction? If you haven't contacted him yet, light up his phones on Monday morning.

A full transcript of the President's remarks are available online here.

The traditional media keeps telling us that America is headed over the fiscal cliff if Democrats and Republicans can't work out a budget deal. The truth is much more complex than that -- and the American economy isn't going to be destroyed. But when you drill down to the heart of the fight, it leads right back to the Republicans' pledge to keep taxes low for millionaires and billionaires. And the biggest push for tax cuts is coming from GOP operative Grover Norquist. But Norquist's days might be numbered, as Republicans are beginning to turn their back on him, and Mike Papantonio spoke with John Amato from Crooks and Liars recently about Norquist's last stand to preserve the costly tax breaks for the wealthy.

Your open thread begins below.

After being informed that Republican candidate Mitt Romney had lost the presidential election, billionaire Mr. Burns admitted it was time to explain the looming “fiscal cliff” to America.

“Think of the economy as car, and a rich man as the driver,” Mr. Burns explained. “If you don’t give the driver all the money, he’ll drive you over the cliff. It is just common sense.”

“Furthermore, rich people feel things more deeply than the common man,” he added, showing a clip of depressed and suicidal billionaires following Romney’s defeat.

Mr. Burns also announced his new “progressive” immigration plan, which consisted of allowing 200 Irishmen into the country each year and speaking in broken Spanish.