Only five days remain before the deadline for the White House and Congress to reach an agreement avoiding cuts across the board totally $85 billion divided between domestic programs and defense. The Congressional Budget Office announced it believes the cuts would make over 750,000 people lose their jobs. Little sign of movement from both Republicans and Democrats is taking place after a week’s recess on Capitol Hill.
The Federal Aviation Administration, in a detailed warning over the sequestration said that starting sometime in April, people traveling by air should be prepared for delays. The warning said that if the budget cuts take effect over 47,000 workers including many air traffic controllers, would have to be furloughed for two days per month. Small airports would also have to shut down some air traffic towers because of the furloughs.
Businesses will be affected that are located near airports and rely on customers directly or indirectly from those smaller sized airports.
President Obama is trying to use the possible job losses to urge Republicans in Congress to reach a deal that would close tax loopholes on Americans with higher incomes. The president asked is Republicans were prepared for the middle class and small business to suffer more, for those that are at the top of the income bracket.
Republicans responded by saying more spending cuts are necessary if the president wants them to deal with the sequester issue.
