Congress hates it when people call it that, they preferred the "Joint Resolution Committee." I am not joking. I had a Congressman correct me.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand what the heck Boehner, Ryan, and Cantor were thinking when they not only agreed to this garbage, but that they agreed to let the military be punished with 50% of the cuts. Did they really (really?) believe that a committee with a bunch of Democrats on it (that the party got to pick) would enact reasonable Entitlement reform?
Maybe it would have succeeded if Max Baucus was promised a fifth and a hooker, Patty Murry was given a brain transplant, John Kerry was told there was a rich widow included in the deal, and James Clyburn was promised another cash kickback. Barring that, it was a disaster. The Democrats literally walked out, but not before telling the Republicans that they would cut Entitlements over their dead bodies.
So now, the military gets punished.