How budget cuts could affect you

Automatic spending cuts that took effect Friday are expected to touch a vast range of government services. Some examples: DEFENSE Navy's aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, in Norfolk, Va.- deployment to Persian Gulf delayed. carrier and 5,000-person crew to leave Feb. 8 delayed guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg Feb 9 delayed Navy began plans to gradually shut down four of air wings which include 50 to 60 aircraft each assigned to the carriers and delay and cancel the deployments of several other ships. Furlough notices will begin going out later this month to 800,000 defense department civilians, who will lose a day's pay each week for more than five months. Army will let go more than 3,000 temporary and contract employees Army to begin in April, to cancel maintenance at depots. This will force 5,000 more layoffs. Air Force Thunderbirds and the Navy's Blue Angels - cancel air shows Veterans' funerals at Arlington National Cemetery - cut to 24 a day from 31, meaning delays in burials. Troops killed in action in Afghanistan will be priority within two weeks. But overall funerals reduced by 160 a month because of furloughs among employees who schedule as well as crews that dig the graves and do grounds work. Pentagon countering cyberthreats and nuclear proliferation - at risk Coast Guard rescue aircraft fly fewer hours and cutters patrol fewer hours. Emergencies will be a priority and interdictions of illegal immigrants, drugs and illegal fishing could decline. HOMELAND SECURITY More than 2,000 illegal immigrants freed from jails across the country since Feb. 15. FOOD SAFETY 2,100 fewer food safety inspections and increased risks to consumers. Most of the effects not felt for a while. HEALTH CARE Hospitals, doctors and Medicare providers 2% cut in government reimbursements - Medicare will reimburse at 98 cents on the dollar. Automatic cuts taking effect Friday reduce Medicare spending by $100 billion over a decade. Obama had put on the table $400 billion in health care cuts, mainly from Medicare. Republicans wanted more. Obama's health overhaul law expected to roll out on time and unscathed by cuts. The law's subsidies to help uninsured people buy private health coverage are tax credits. So is the Affordable Care Act's assistance for small businesses. Tax credits are exempted from automatic cuts. TRANSPORTATION

Airports forced to close some runways causing flight delays and cancellations. Large airports delays of 90 minutes during peak hours because of fewer flight controllers on duty. Furloughs of controllers won't kick in until April. In addition to furloughs, the FAA will eliminate midnight shifts for air traffic controllers at 60 airport towers, close 100 control towers at smaller airports and reduce preventative maintenance of equipment. NATIONAL PARKS Visiting hours at all 398 national parks are likely to be cut and sensitive areas would be blocked off to the public. Thousands of seasonal workers looking for jobs would not be hired, according to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Salazar and National Park Service director Jon Jarvis said visitors would encounter locked restrooms, fewer rangers and trash cans emptied less frequently. FEDERAL WORKERS More than 50% of the nation's 2.1 million government workers will be required to take furloughs if agencies are forced to trim budgets. At the Pentagon this means 800,000 civilian workers would be off for 22 days each, more than five months and lose 20 percent of their pay. Other federal agencies are to furlough several hundred thousand workers. EDUCATION 70,000 students in pre-kindergarten Head Start cut from the program and 14,000 teachers lose their jobs. For students with special needs, cuts eliminate 7,200 teachers and aides. Cuts will impact 29 million student loan borrowers and lenders will lay off staff or close. The 15 million college students who receive grants or work-study assignments at 6,000 colleges also to see changes. CONGRESS Congressional trips overseas cut. Suspend the use of military aircraft for official trips by House members. Lawmakers travel on military planes for fact-finding trips or other congressional excursions to foreign locales. NUCLEAR SECURITY Cleanup of radioactive waste at nuclear sites delayed - postpone work at highest-risk sites. Other high-risk sites facing work delays TAX COLLECTION furloughs at the Internal Revenue Service delayed until summer, after the tax filing season ends, so it shouldn't delay tax refunds. Taxpayers may not get responses from IRS call centers and taxpayer assistance centers and reduce ability to detect and prevent fraud. LABOR 3.8 million people jobless for six months or longer could see unemployment benefits reduced by 9.4 percent. Veterans would not receive job counseling. Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors 1,200 fewer inspections of dangerous work sites.