Real-life sequester effects unclear

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) - It's been a few days since the official start of the sweeping budget cuts known as the sequester, and it's still not clear how people will be affected.

The sequester automatically cut $85 billion in spending from the federal budget. The White House says Michigan will lose at least $140 million in funding to a variety of programs in education, public safety, child care, public safety, transportation and defense.

But the sequester still so new that it's unclear exactly who will be affected and how. However, some fear devastating cuts are imminent.

Cory Simpson is a US Army veteran. He served in Iraq for a year. He told 24 Hour News 8 there were several weeks he didn't get paid, which made it a financially and emotionally difficult time.  

"Almost hopeless. Abandoned. I felt like, 'Where are they back home? What are they doing?'" said Simpson.

Simpson said he fears newly-returning veterans may feel similarly if some Veterans Affairs services are cut as a part of sequester.  

"They're going to have issues they need to get off their chest, and without certain funding for programs for the VA, they're not going to get that. And that's important because they're not going to have a future," he said. "I dread to see that for the soldiers coming back from the war.

The problem is there are a lot of fears of possibilities and not a lot of specific answers about how Michigan residents will be affected.

"I wish I could tell you the answer because right now no one knows exactly where the cuts are going to come from and how they're going to be distributed, from what I understand," said Millie Lambert of the Kalamazoo Education Association.

Federal funding touches so many aspects of daily life in Kalamazoo -- from federal Title I funding for low-income school districts to department of justice grants for deputies on the streets -- people 24 Hour News 8 spoke to are bracing for the worst.  

"What's going to happen is the cuts that are made at all different levels, they trickle down to the state and the counties so fast. It would make your head spin how quick they get here," said David Buskirk of the Kalamazoo County Commission.

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Infographic: Breaking down the sequester