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The 2013 Sequestration or sequester refers to broad, shallow, "across the board" reductions to the planned increases in spending in the United States federal budget. The cuts were enacted by the Budget Control Act of 2011 and initially set to go into effect on January 1, 2013. However, that date was moved to March 1, 2013 by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. Actual spending is projected to increase in 2013 and in subsequent years, but the increases will be less than previously planned.

Under the sequestration, the projected increase in 2013 is $15 billion, with an average increase of $238.6 billion per year for the next decade. Reductions to the increases of approximately $85.4 billion during fiscal year 2013(p14) will begin to take effect no later than 11:59 PM on March 1, 2013 if no additional legislation is passed to avert the sequester. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the sequester would reduce 2013 economic growth by about 0.6 percentage points (from 2.0% to 1.4%) and affect the creation or retention of about 750,000 full-time jobs by year-end.

The cuts are split evenly (by dollar amounts) between the defense and non-defense[note 1] categories. Some major programs like Social Security, Medicaid, federal pay (including military pay and pensions) and veterans' benefits are exempt. Medicare spending will be reduced by 2% per year versus the planned levels.

Over the 2013–2021 period[dubious – discuss], the sequester would reduce planned spending by $1.0 trillion with interest savings of approximately $170 billion, for a total of nearly $1.2 trillion in debt reduction or avoidance. The blunt nature of the cuts has been criticized, with some favoring more tailored cuts and others arguing for postponement while the economy improves.