President Barack Obama speaks to reporters in the White House briefing room in Washington, Friday, March 1, 2013, following after meeting with congressional leaders regarding the automatic spending cuts. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington, Friday, March 1, 2013, following a meeting with President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders regarding the automatic spending cuts. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama speaks to reporters about the fiscal cliff in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in Newport News, Va. With across-the-board spending cuts all but certain, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are staging a politically charged showdown designed to avoid public blame for any public inconvenience or disruption in government services that result. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio pauses while meeting with reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013, to answer questions about the impending automatic spending cuts that take effect March 1. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., right, accompanied by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., faces reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013, to talk about the impending automatic spending cuts that take effect March 1. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - In a Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, and GOP leaders meet with reporters to challenge President Obama and the Senate to avoid the automatic spending cuts set to take effect in four days, on Capitol Hill in Washington. As economic policy goes, experts say, the automatic spending cuts that kick in Friday, March 1, are a bad idea. From left to right are Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan., Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., joined by House Democratic women, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013, to talk about the impending automatic spending cuts that take effect March 1. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Barack Obama speaks to reporters in the White House briefing room in Washington, Friday, March 1, 2013, following after meeting with congressional leaders regarding the automatic spending cuts. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

US Senator Dick Durbin arrive to addressed potentially devastating impacts on hospitals and medical research facilities in Illinois from Sequestration during news conference at Lurie Medical Research Center, Friday, March 1, 2013. | John H. White~Sun-Times

US Senator Dick Durbin addressed potentially devastating impacts on hospitals and medical research facilities in Illinois from Sequestration during news conference at Lurie Medical Research Center, Friday, March 1, 2013. | John H. White~Sun-Times

US Senator Dick Durbin addressed potentially devastating impacts on hospitals and medical research facilities in Illinois from Sequestration during news conference at Lurie Medical Research Center, Friday, March 1, 2013. | John H. White~Sun-Times

US Senator Dick Durbin addressed potentially devastating impacts on hospitals and medical research facilities in Illinois from Sequestration during news conference at Lurie Medical Research Center, Friday, March 1, 2013. | John H. White~Sun-Times

US Senator Dick Durbin addressed potentially devastating impacts on hospitals and medical research facilities in Illinois from Sequestration during news conference at Lurie Medical Research Center, Friday, March 1, 2013. | John H. White~Sun-Times

US Senator Dick Durbin addressed potentially devastating impacts on hospitals and medical research facilities in Illinois from Sequestration during news conference at Lurie Medical Research Center, Friday, March 1, 2013. | John H. White~Sun-Times

US Senator Dick Durbin addressed potentially devastating impacts on hospitals and medical research facilities in Illinois from Sequestration during news conference at Lurie Medical Research Center, Friday, March 1, 2013. L-r: Dr. Monica peek, Unicersity of Chicago, Senator Durbin, Jay Walsh, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Mary J.C. Hendrix, of Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Research Center. | John H. White~Sun-Times

US Senator Dick Durbin addressed potentially devastating impacts on hospitals and medical research facilities in Illinois from Sequestration during news conference at Lurie Medical Research Center, Friday, March 1, 2013. | John H. White~Sun-Times

US Senator Dick Durbin addressed potentially devastating impacts on hospitals and medical research facilities in Illinois from Sequestration during news conference at Lurie Medical Research Center, Friday, March 1, 2013. | John H. White~Sun-Times

US Senator Dick Durbin after addressing potentially devastating impacts on hospitals and medical research facilities in Illinois from Sequestration during news conference at Lurie Medical Research Center, Friday, March 1, 2013. | John H. White~Sun-Times

US Senator Dick Durbin after addressing potentially devastating impacts on hospitals and medical research facilities in Illinois from Sequestration during news conference at Lurie Medical Research Center, Friday, March 1, 2013. | John H. White~Sun-Times

US Senator Dick Durbin after addressing potentially devastating impacts on hospitals and medical research facilities in Illinois from Sequestration during news conference at Lurie Medical Research Center, Friday, March 1, 2013. | John H. White~Sun-Times