Rigell, Scott brace for budget deadline

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - Local representatives assured 10 On Your Side they had Hampton Roads residents' best interests in mind as the countdown to the sequester reached its final day.

President Obama will meet Friday with top congressmen to discuss a resolution. The president would need to sign the sequester into law by midnight to cut $42 billion in federal funding this fiscal year.

If Obama does sign off on the cuts, effects are likely not going to be felt immediately. For example, furloughs would not begin for another 30 days.

In an interview Friday morning, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) told WAVY.com $1.2 trillion in cuts should be made intelligently and deliberately. 

"The problem that we have now is that the size of the sequester is that it's so huge, there's no alternative to it," Scott said. "If we cut taxes a little less, we wouldn't have to worry about the sequester."

Scott was in Newport News visiting a Head Start program, which could face steep cuts if the sequester is implemented.

Rep. Scott Rigell (R-VA) met with the president earlier this week during a visit to Newport News Shipbuilding. Friday morning, he was back in Washington, D.C.

"Right now, I'm disappointed," Rigell told WAVY.com Friday morning. "I met with the president, we had a substantive discussion on the urgent need to replace sequestration with something that's wiser. I've also told our leadership that we should be in session right now and the same should be true of the Senate as well."