"The Congressional Budget Office estimates that we’re likely to have about one million fewer jobs in this country at this time next year because of the sequester. That’s a huge self-inflicted wound. The president has been very clear that he wants to negotiate to replace the sequester in a balanced way, but Republicans have refused." From Ezra Klein's interview with Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee.
The rest of the interview is at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/24/chris-van-hollen-i-dont-think-anybody-knows-how-it-ends-and-thats-a-very-dangerous-place-to-be-in/?wpisrc=nl_wnkpm