White House officials are warning each state that spending cuts due to take effect this Friday will have a significant impact. Military personnel in North Carolina are bracing for the worst. Army leaders face more than $136 million in base operations cuts. Jason Furman is a deputy director of the President's National Economic Council. He says it's uncertain how those cuts will play out.
"It is pretty much a department-by-department thing," Furman says.
"We work with them on their plans. We go through it with them. But it will be up to the Department of Defense to be communicating with its employees just like every department agency is communicating with their own employees and their own contractors."
Pentagon officials will decide how to save more than $117 million in civilian payroll. Options include furloughs to reduce a five-day work week or staff reductions. Teachers, police officers and the public health sector are also expected to feel the sequester's affects.