Following a meeting with Congressional leaders, President Obama holds a news briefing at the White House.
He emphasized that sequestration would not prevent him from pursuing his legislative priorities. He highlighted the passage of the Violence Against Women Act on Thursday as an example of bipartisan legislation that can get passed.
Sequestration, the mandatory across-the-board budget cuts agreed to in the Budget Control Act of 2011, takes effect by midnight Friday. This year, the federal government will have to make $85 billion in cuts, split evenly between defense and discretionary spending.