Sequestration is college-level procrastination on a devastating high. Sequestration is Adderall, Red Bull and two double-shot espressos the morning of your final.

As of Friday, March 1, sequestration began for the people of the United States.

The sequester everyone has been talking about is a policy by Congress enacting extreme federal budget cuts of about $86 billion to both defense spending and across-the-board domestic programs.

“I’m not surprised at this new sequester, nor will I be rallying behind any alternative plan,” said Segun Dent, 32, a computer art and motion technology student at DePaul University. “The bickering and brawling of the government overshadows an ongoing process that is akin to adding cheap wood to a decaying, collapsing house, instead of starting the process of rebuilding from the foundation.”

Some of the cuts that have gone into affect are $42.7 billion in defense cuts, $28.7 billion in domestic discretionary cuts, $9.9 billion in Medicare cuts and $4 billion in other mandatory cuts.

These cuts will affect military operations and research, the National Institute of Health, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, border security and immigration enforcement, airport security, Head Start, FEMA’s disaster relief budget, public housing support, the FDA, NASA, Special Education, the Energy Department’s program, the National Science Foundation, The FBI, the federal prison system, State Department diplomatic functions, Global health programs, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the SEC, the Holocaust Memorial Museum, The Library of Congress, the Patewnt and Trademark office, military personnel benefits, delayed disability payments, child nutrition programs, teacher and student loans, National Park services, fewer air traffic controllers, meat shortages and about 9,800 less children will receive flu vaccines in 2013.

While Congress itself – the source that has devised these heinous repercussions in order to deal with their own mishandlings of our federal budget – will not be suffering from any cuts at all. Now isn’t that just fascinating?

Not only are we adding cheap wood to a “decaying, collapsing home,” but Congress has instead set it on fire and has decided to take all of the wood from the surrounding homes in order to rebuild their own crumbling Frat house on an already burned and barren plot.

“I think politicians are so quick to use budget cuts to help solve our financial problems … it’s a lot more complicated than that,” said Jackelin Herrera, 21, an interactive media student at DePaul University. “I think we’re not using our money wisely or just focusing on cutting with the wrong mentality. We should be thinking of increasing employment, not constantly attacking the people in the low spectrum – people who depend on government money.”

Employment in the U.S. job market has recovered only 5.5 million of the 8.7 million jobs lost during the recession in 2007. How do we justify this in the context of the Dow closing in at a record high of 14,296?

Wages have stagnated; people are losing their benefits, their jobs and are left with the uncertainty in having their way of life completely upturned by what seems to be the politically inept leaders on Capitol Hill.

“These cuts are horribly insane,” said Lawrence Frateschi, a DePaul economics professor, as reported in “The budget blues hit close to home” article published in the March 4 issue of The DePaulia. “What’s crazy is that the Republicans are even missing out on the chance to accomplish some of their goals – they passed up on the Democrats’ offer of entitlement reform, which may have the most logic out of any cuts … In the end, I wonder if this was for political rather than economical goals.”

In The DePaulia’s constant coverage of the sequestration, it is incredibly evident that the issue grows worse not in a matter of years, but in a matter of days. These days which political leaders seem to vacation on, as was the case with the weekend before the March 1 decision when President Barack Obama was photographed golfing with Tiger Woods while elected members of Congress also took the weekend off.

This is an issue our government has had months to deal with, an issue that is not just a one-time deal, but is something that will extend until 2012 when it will be cut from $87 to $92 billion from the discretionary budget every year for a total of $109 billion – an issue that seems to ignore the fact that our government borrows $85 billion every 28 days and one that Congress refuses to face and handle like the elected officials we have elected them to become.