The Sequester's Impact And Future

With Jane Clayson in for Tom Ashbrook.

The first workweek under sequester begins. We're touching down around the country, and in Washington for the impact and where this goes.

The sequester is here. It was meant to be the doomsday option, a set of cuts so grim that just the threat of it would spur lawmakers to compromise. But that’s not how it worked out.

Now, we’re in the sequester’s first workweek, and the new fiscal reality is taking shape. Most furlough notices, out today. We’ve heard warnings of snarled airports, jobs lost, food plants shuttered for lack of inspectors. Is it hype, or a new reality? How hard will these cuts hit? And is there any hope of a new plan from Washington?

This hour, On Point: the sequester’s impact and future.

Ben Mutzabaugh, covers air travel and the airline industry for USA Today. (@todayinthesky)

Chris Imbach, president and CEO of CTI Resource Management — a defense contractor that has laid off 39 employees since learning two weeks ago that their largest Navy contract would be scaled back.

George Safferans, CEO of Rogers Poultry, their plant near downtown LA processes 30,000 to 40,000 chickens a day.

Chuck Babington, covers Congress for the Associated Press. (@cbabington)

Byron York, chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner. (@byronyork)

The New York Times "President Obama and Congressional leaders emerged from a White House meeting on Friday without resolution to the budget impasse, meaning that the across-the-board spending cuts that take effect Friday could remain in place for weeks if not months."

CNBC "A House agriculture subcommittee chairman acknowledged Wednesday that there's "a possibility" some meat plants could be idled if there's a mass layoff of USDA food inspectors under sequester cuts, although the lawmaker suggested a better solution would be rolling furloughs of some of the 8,500 meat inspectors."

The Washington Post "In the war of words over the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester, the administration has portrayed a grim picture of long lines at airports and closed airport towers if the required reductions at the Federal Aviation Administration are allowed to proceed."