By Tim Reid and Anna Yukhananov

Reuters

Sept. 6, 2011

Chris Jennings, a former healthcare adviser to Democratic President Bill Clinton, said: "Virtually all healthcare stakeholders would prefer the sequester to take place rather than worry about the near inevitability of the super committee coming up with a package of deeper and broader cuts."

...

Half of the $1.2 trillion in cuts will come from the defense budget.

As a result, the pressure is on Republican members of the committee to strike a deal, said Steve Bell, a former Republican staff director of the Senate Budget Committee who now works at the Bipartisan Policy Center, an independent Washington-based think tank.

"If a sequestration were to occur, in my judgment programs that the Republicans have tried to support, especially in national security, would be hurt more profoundly than safety net programs the Democrats have tried to support. Therefore there is much less incentive for most Democrats to give on entitlements or anything fundamental."

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Economic Policy Project, Health Project