From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point.

Welcome to Sequestration.

Hello again, I'm Arminolny, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International,

a daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

$85 billion in arbitrary

federal budget cuts are going into effect today. The president says there was no way he could

force the Congress to negotiate. I am not a dictator. I'm the president. So ultimately, if Mitch

McConnell or John Bader say, we need to go to catch a plane, I can't have Secret Service block the doorway.

Republicans, of course, blame the president.

Today we'll hear about the gradual impact of sequestration across the country.

Is the U.S. in a new period of austerity?

On Reporters' notebook later on, after the Castro brothers, who's next for Cuba?

First, here's the news.

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Hello again, Mormon. I'll need, back with To the Poet.

Arbitrary, across-the-board, federal budget cuts are becoming a fact of life today. We'll look at the impacts of sequestration in various parts of the country.

On reporter's notebook, we'll hear about a man chosen to lead Cuba when the Castro brothers stepped down. Will their shoes be impossible for anyone else to fill?

First, this news update. The leaders of both parties and both houses of Congress met for less than an hour at the

White House this morning, but there was no deal to prevent sequestration. Republicans are still

...