Stop The Sequester News Today

Virtually absent from legislative process and making no discernible effort to replace mishiss sequester. he went on to say mr. president we agree your sequester is bad policy. what spending are you willing to cut to replace it? he then linked to his website talking about some of the coverage thats happened this week. as we look at the potential cuts here, congressman, meat inspectors furloughed, 4 million fewer meals to seniors homes, 30% cut to court security, were going to feel this right away...

Just yet or do we have to wait until we get to thursday? >> i think this time we may actually avert freakout mode. the vibe on capitol hill is that the sequester may indeed happen on march 1st but that its effects at least for those who are on capitol hill will not be as serious as youre hearing now on all the tv stations, the gloom and doom about long lines at the airports and people not getting their benefits checks. i think its been really exaggerated. this is only going to represent a little...

Back to jonathans question, were looking at everything. were not just looking at furlough days. were looking at every contract, our lawyers are looking at every contract, to see what impact it has for us to try and find some savings in those areas. >> why is the alarm being raised now? why not three, four months ago? why now? >> because were in 30 days of sequester. sequester really begins march 1st but we have a 30-day window here to prepare people. and weve been working with our college here a...

Going to happen and there is also a much greater partisan divide over the tax versus spending issue. those things combined i think make it more likely the sequester will be a real thing on march 1st. >> meanwhile you think well avert the full on freakout mode however crossroads gps is out today trying to pin the blame squarely on the president. take a look. >> these cuts here in washington known as sequestration are a bad idea. you want to see a bunch of first responders lose their jobs, teacher...

First of all, again, on march 27th the government runs out of money. we have no spending authority past that day. so whatever we do before then to figure out how were going to fund the government is going to accommodate whatever impact on the sequester, so thats what we ought to be focusing on. thats why i think the only thing that makes sense is to actually delay the sequester until then. speaker boehner doesnt want to do that because he wants a lot of his members want the sequester to go into ...

Again a self-manufactured crisis. it will be horrible for the economy. it will impact a lot of people. just outside my district but certainly affecting my district is fort knox, 5,000 civilian employees of the u.s. army. there will be substantial furloughs and possibly layoffs there if the sequester were in effect for any length of time. so weve got a few days to act. i think we could actually come up with something that just delays the sequester until march 27th. then we would have four weeks i...

Falling at the end of the month. $85 billion in cuts. what will that mean to your wallet or your family? $619 million in cuts to the federal aviation administration which could result in major flight delays for travelers. $406 million in cuts to head start programs meaning 70,000 children losing access and potential layoffs of 14,000 teachers and staff. and $120 million cut to health care facilities which would impact an estimated $900,000 patients. joining me now to talk more about this is kent...