'Everything else" is half the spending cuts.
Cuts totaling $110 billion per year will be applied from 2013 to 2022, split evenly ($55 billion each) between defense and non-defense discretionary spending. Individually, all these cuts may be peanuts, but when you add it all up it turns into real money.
I've been spending some time seeing what exactly is included in that $55B/yr, discretionary spending cuts. Social Security, Medicaid, supplemental security income, refundable tax credits, the children's health insurance program, the food stamp program and veterans' benefits are excluded from the cuts scheduled under the cliff. All those benefits for low-income families, which I would guess are not peanuts to them at least.
The White House has also said that military personnel would be exempt from the cuts.
The government-run health care program for seniors would face a 2 percent cut in Medicare payments to providers and insurance plans, which amounts to a reduction of $11 billion next year.