I used to work in the budgeting and forecasting parts of big businesses. I would talk to each manager and find out what budget they needed for the year. They all cut their budget by 10%. Everything was fine. You don't think that every budget could be cut by 5%? Yeah, good. That's how every big business does this. Of course they can. And the worst thing we could do is let Congress negotiate the details. Don't let them negotiate details. Just tell them they have 10% less for everything next year."