Area leaders demand that President Obama, Congress act to avoid deep federal cuts

Area leaders begged President Obama and Congress on Tuesday to work together to stop massive federal spending cuts that would hit the D.C. region harder than nearly anywhere else in the country.

If the White House and Congress fail to strike a deficit-reduction deal before March 1, the federal government will begin to shrink by $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years, with nearly half those cuts coming from the Pentagon’s budget. With a large federal workforce and defense-dependent economies, the District, Maryland and Virginia will bear the brunt of those cuts.