In his September 2012 book, The Price of Politics, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward provided the most comprehensive, behind-the-scenes look at how the very people trying to stop it now are the same ones who proposed the idea and signed it into law in the summer of 2011.

According to Woodward, the idea started with the White House and President Barack Obama. Republicans voted in majorities for the bill containing sequestration. Both sides are now blaming one another for letting it potentially happen.