Various facets of the U.S. economy face cuts this year, as the sequester that kicked in on March 1st takes effect. The $85 billion cut will be split evenly between nonexempt defense and nondefense programs (eCivis, 2013). The sequestration comes as a result of Congress’s inability to come to a consensus on how best to proceed with managing the national budget. Programs that have traditionally relied on federal funding are experiencing the brunt of this impasse, as the government has pulled funding from initiatives involving education, community development, and healthcare. Projections speculate that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) will lose $1.6 billion and $338 million, respectively.To counter these effects, President Obama plans to nominate Sylvia Mathews Burwell, president of the Wal-Mart Foundation as White House budget chief, to arbitrate future discourse on the subject.