Lawmakers No Closer To Compromise As Sequester Cuts Kick In

The D.C. region is bracing for the impact of the federal budget cuts that start trickling down today. Lawmakers in the area still disagree about what should be done.

This day has been looming for months. Lawmakers from both parties decry the indiscriminate budget cuts, yet lawmakers have been unable to put partisan differences aside and reach a deal. So now they're dealing with the fallout: cuts to education, housing, healthcare, the federal workforce — the list is seemingly endless.

Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) says sequestration is a down payment on the nation's debt.

"We have to get our spending under control," Griffith says.

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) says he doesn't see a way around sequestration unless Republicans agree to raise more revenue.

"One of the problems is, it's simple arithmetic," Scott says. "Unless you re willing to come up with new revenues, there is no meaningful alternative to the sequester."

Some are predicting that lawmakers will work out a continuing budget resolution, also known as a CR, which will all them to reprioritize many of the cuts that are going into effect automatically.

"We will mitigate a lot of the horror stories you're hearing out there with a CR with anomalies that will come in there. We can do a lot of that," says Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.).

With families in the region preparing to make do with less money and federal resources, the two parties on Capitol Hill seem to be right where they've been for sometime: gridlocked.