The deadline for the much-feared sequester came and went Friday night — and no one noticed.
Congress and President Obama kept up their bickering and finger-pointing over the across-the-board budget cuts yesterday.
But experts say there’s no hurry to address the issue, as it will be weeks or months before the cuts have a real impact.
“There have got to be some cuts. The American people want a more efficient and better-run government,” said Lawrence Spiwak, president of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies.
“If you just cut 5 percent across the board, you could get 1.2 million new private-sector jobs and $75 billion in additional GDP growth.”
But in time, vital government services will be affected, Spiwak added.
In New York and New Jersey, as much as $2.5 billion in Hurricane Sandy relief could be blocked.
The military is feeling the first impact of the cuts, with curbs in Air Force flight hours and slashes to Army training for units not headed to Afghanistan.
But Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel downplayed the cuts.
“We will manage these issues,” he said. “These are adjustments . . . We will do what we need to do.”