A Purdue professor says the way things are going in Washington, D.C., the sequester will take effect.
Rosalee Clawson is a professor of the Political Science and the department head. She says while the budget cuts happen automatically, most won’t feel the impact right away.
"People who are on government contracts may feel it immediately. Other people who work for the federal government, there may be time in which it's implement across time."
The White House is warning the impending budget cuts mean Indiana would lose approximately $150 million in federal funding. Officials say that would impact education, Department of Defense operations in the state as well as public health and safety.
Clawson thinks the duration of the across-the-board cuts depends on how Americans react.
"And whether people realize very quickly that this is going to affect their lives in a negative way, or whether a lot of people just shrug and say, 'Oh, too bad for those people who it does affect. I'm not going to worry about it.'"
She says, eventually, there will be a negative impact on the economy.
"When you're kicking people out of their jobs and you're cutting back on some core services there are ripple effects that are going to hurt not just those people who are directly impacted, but others as well."
Clawson says governors will be putting pressure on the president and Congress to reduce spending carefully, because so much federal money goes to the states.
