By: Kylen Mills
kmills@cbs4qc.com
Today is the deadline for congress to come up with a plan to avoid $85 billion worth of budget cuts.
It's too late to prevent the cuts now, as congress left the Capitol for a long weekend Thursday night with no solution.
When sequestration goes into effect sometime before midnight, it will be devastating for Americans across the country and right here at home.
The president of the United Way Quad Cities says many of the programs they work with will be hit the hardest.
"These are helping in many cases the most vulnerable in our population. Folks that are really doing the best that they can to get up and move out of poverty, to make sure their children have the best opportunities possible. That is who this is going to effect," said United Way of the Quad Cities President Scott Crane.
Officials from local Congresswoman Cheri Bustos office tell us some different areas that will face cuts are education, job search assistance, senior care, public health and more.
The United Way is an organization that helps fund and work with different health and human services.
One service that Crane is most worried about is Head Start programs.
These preschools give kids from lower income families a chance at a higher education.
"You know head start has been such a successful program since its inception, and to take these kids out of it sets them back, and we're talking lower income children, and so these kids may not have the same opportunities," said Crane.
Defense spending will also face cuts, which would have a huge impact on the Rock Island Arsenal.
Right now we still don't know how much money will be cut and when it will happen.
