UPDATED 7:37 AM EST, February 19, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is pressing Congress to avert automatic budget cuts due to take effect in less than two weeks.
Obama will make his appeal during a White House event Tuesday morning. He will be joined by emergency responders, a group of workers the White House says could be affected if state and local governments lose federal money as a result of the cuts.
The $85 billion in across-the-board cuts is known as the sequester.
