Local federal workers rally against looming federal budget cuts

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Workers for the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1336 planned Wednesday protests at the Richard Boling Federal Building in downtown Kansas City.

Andrea Henry works in the Social Security Department at the Federal building downtown. She says her job will be impacted by the sequestration.

Henry said there is a possibility local social security workers will have to take 22 furlough days until the end of the fiscal year.  

"If I have to take a day of work away from me, then I have to try to redo a budget. And that affects me because a lot of people live on a budget, and if their budget is tampered with then they're trying to figure out how they're going to pay bills," she said.

Wednesday’s local protest is a slice of what Federal Government workers did across the country. Hundreds railed to protest the expected 85.4 billion dollars in federal budget cuts.

The sequester is a set of automatic spending cuts that were put into law by the Budget Control Act and signed by President Obama in 2011. The cuts will be split between domestic and defense programs.

The cuts include cuts to the FBI, Head Start, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Immigration Control.

Henry says local federal employees will protest to bring awareness to the impact  of the sequestration on everyday Americans and the local economy

"If fewer people are working in the social security office, then claims can't be done. We can't give people their paychecks on time. We service a lot of people who are trying to get disability, who are disabled and they depend of social security for their livelihood because that's how they pay their bills, and if we can't do our job, then they can't pay their bills," she said.