Republican Senator Jon Kyl has been blamed for the supercommittee's failure to agree a deal on the US budget deficit, triggering automatic cuts.

This would trigger across-the-board cuts ("sequestration") of spending, equally split between defense and non-defense programs.

The supercommittee's failure will trigger automatic cuts in the defence budget and domestic spending.

Before 1995, Connecticut residents on welfare could not earn very much outside income without triggering cuts in their weekly welfare check - as is still the case in most states.

Cap on Growth Serves as a Backstop: However, exceeding the cap would not trigger across-the-board bureaucratic cuts or higher premiums.

Cuts in Government financing threaten to trigger cuts in the level of wages and pensions for new players.

Britain's defence industry faces a squeeze from across the Atlantic, as renewed gridlock in Washington over the US deficit looks set to trigger automatic cuts in military spending.

Under the law, a breach would trigger automatic cuts in both domestic and military programs.

Senator Lawton M. Chiles, the Florida Democrat who heads the Budget Committee, said the automatic mechanism would trigger "very, very drastic and very severe" cuts.

Many Democrats, however, point out that a cut in state spending on Medicaid would automatically trigger corresponding cuts by the Federal Government and localities.