No 11th hr deal, sequester takes effect

WASHINGTON (WIVB) - The President and Congress have turned from finding an alternative to the federal sequester to blaming each other for it.

There was no last minute deal Friday to avert the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts from taking effect. The across-the-board cuts will impact dozens of federal agencies and departments in the coming months. And now everyone is bracing for what happens next.

President Obama warned the economy will soon feel the impact.

"This is not going to be an apocalypse, I think, as some people have said. It's just dumb. And it's going to hurt," he stated.

Thousands of government workers have already been told they could be furloughed and the administration has forecast everything from fewer teachers in the classroom to longer lines at the airport. The President blames Republicans.

"They've allowed these cuts to happen because they refuse to budget on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit," President Obama said.

House Speaker John Boehner says the GOP has already done its part.

"This discussion about revenue, in my view, is over," said Boehner. "It's about taking on the spending problem here in Washington."

These across-the-board cuts can be stopped if lawmakers reach a budget deal in the coming weeks. President Obama hopes the pain of the cuts will force a compromise.

The Pentagon alone must slash $46 billion. The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee says the President should have done more to stop this from happening in the first place.

Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon said, "I have never in my lifetime seen such a lack of leadership and truth-telling emanating from the White House and from our Commander-in-Chief."

The finger-pointing continued as lawmakers left Washington for the the weekend. Congressman Chris Collins left Washington to make an appearance at the Air Base in Niagara Falls, where more than 500 civilian employees could be facing furloughs. Collins is co-sponsoring a Republican bill that would given department heads flexibility in where federal cuts are made.

"We stand ready at any time to negotiate with the President and the Senate, to change where the cuts come from. Not the magnitude of the cuts, but where they may come from," Collins said.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said high ranking military officials have told her the cuts are so deep that flexibility would not make a difference. The Senator was in Buffalo so she could make a Buffalo appearance for the Dress for Success program, which helps financially challenged women enter or re-enter the career world.

"Everyone should be trying to work it out, and I think what we need is the kind of leadership that can come together to get this done," Sen. Gillibrand said.

The next fiscal deadline is already looming. Funding for the federal government is set to expire at the end of the month. According to the Washington Post, the President and Republicans say they would back legislation that keeps the government operating.