It's not often you hear democrats and republican agree.
South Dakota lawmakers agree the sequester will hit our state and affect people in all walks of life such as teachers, seniors, first responders, and the national guard.
But lawmakers are at odds with finding the solution to stopping the sequester.
Republican congresswoman Kristi Noem is concerned about how the sequester's budget cuts would affect South Dakota.
"We could lose up to 10 million dollars in federal funds to our state budget. the governor and the legislature is trying to plan for that as well," congresswoman Kristi Noem said.
Senator John Thune thinks the White House is trying to force republicans to raise taxes as a solution.
"I think the White House's view is these cuts go into effect and when people start realizing the impact then there's going to be a lot of pressure on republicans to agree to the tax increases the president wants," Senator Thune said.
Thune thinks the real solution is not to tax more but spend less and more wisely.
"That 2.4 percent is what this is, of all federal spending this year, is something we ought to be able to tighten our belts and come up with," Senator Thune said.
But democratic senator Tim Johnson explains he voted against the republican plan. He said the cuts would be the same and it wouldn't raise a single penny of revenue.
He see's their plan as nothing but a shell game which would still hurt national security, education and investing in our infrastructure.
And Noem adds the House hasn't received any support from the president or Senate.
"We went back in and recommended that this wasn't the way to cut spending. we needed to do it in a much more targeted manor so that we could protect people the best way that we could, recognizing that our spending has gotten out of control," congresswoman Kristi Noem said.
Lawmakers can point fingers all they want, but one thing is for sure, if sequestration happens and continues, the state of South Dakota would lose about 24 million a year in federal funds for programs like education and health care.
