Arizona. Plus democrats Martin Omalley of maryland, and colorados John Hickenlooper. And well also continue our conversation on gun control after want newtown shooting. What is the impact of violent video games on kids . And what kind of Mental Health laws do we need to help keep things like this from ever happening again . Its all ahead on face the nation. Captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news in washington, face the nation with Bob Schieffer. Substituting for Bob Schieffer cbs news chief white house correspondent, Major Garrett. Garrett good morning again. Bob is off today. Friday 85 billion in acrosstheboard spending cuts are scheduled to take effect. Nearly half the cuts will be to defense, the pentagon saying that 800,000 civilian employees could face furloughs, and everyone in the federal government from f. B. I. Agents to meat inspectors to Emergency Responders could face furloughs. Education funding and head start could also be especially hard hit, and we start off this morning with education secretary arne duncan. Mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us this morning. Good morning major. Thanks for having me. Garrett i know you will get to some of the implications of the acrosstheboard cuts, but in the Recovery Academy the Education Department received 98 billion. Isnt there room in your budget, mr. Secretary, to absorb some of these spending cuts and not have some of the negative effects that have been tellsed so far . Our money all goes out to School Districts. As you know, the vast majorpt of federal money goes to help vulnerable children, whether children with special needs poor children whether whether adults in college doing work study, whether our babies in head start. We dont have any ability with dumb cuts like this to figure out what the right thing to do is. It means children will not get the services and opportunities they need and as many as 40,000 teaches could lose their job. Garrett how soon could that happen . I heard immediately early in the fall. Is there a the sky is falling . Some will happen immediately and some in the fall. There are teachers now getting ping slips notices they that he want come back this fall. We need to invest in education educate our way to a better economy. Any time we have fewer children in head start fewer poor children, fewer children with special needs getting the services they need is not good for families and not good for want country. Garrett and there is nothing you can do in the budget to shield, or buffer these programs you deem essential from the cut cuts . It gives us no ability. Its acrosstheboards dumb cuts. Were willing to make tough calls garrett such as. We cut out 68 billion going to subsidize bankers with our student alone program. We put about 28 to reduce the deficit, 40 billion to increase pell grant. Weve gone from six million pel recipients recipients to 19million. Thats us showing creativity. Garrett you mentioned pink slips a moment ago. Who is sending them out states, because theyre hearing from you . This is local School Districts trying to manage i was a superintendent and c. E. O. For seven and a half years. This is the spring. Youre trying to plan your package for the fall. And with this much instability this much chaos coming from washington again fact that this is so easily avoidable is why im so angry. If information would just Work Together compromise, find a middle ground, we wouldnt put districtand families and children through this much trauma. Garrett the white house did concede earlier this week and i know oops a debate the white house doesnt like to get into but want idea for the kroos want board spending cuts did originate with the white house. Do you think the administration regrets the idea in the first place. I think the sequester was set up to be so painful for everybody, recognition want desfunction of congress to be so painful it would force people to come want to table and the in fact people in congress are so tone deaf to what is is going on in the district and what will happen is to me unimaginable. We tonight have to be in this situation. This is not rocket science. We could solve this tomorrow if folks had the will to compromise, come to the table and do the right thing for children and try to keep growing the middle class. Thats what i think we all want to do displag there is a countdown phenomena building up around the story but do you think theres any possibility that there was some discussion of this in the morn papers come march 2 if the sequester the acrosstheboard spending cuts happen, nothing terrible will occur and voters will say wait a minute. This seems all exaggerated. Its not just what happens on march 2 its april may june, going back to school this fall. If we have 70,000 less children in head start if we have tens of thousands of poor children and children with disabilities not getting want services they need children of military families gettingproportionate impacted, so families where the parents parents are serving in iraq and afghanistan all of a sudden those children get a worse education. Thats not right major. Thats not fair. It doesnt make sense. Garrett were also going to have another conversation later in the show on gun control. You came from an urban school district. Chicago has been tragically, horribly in the headlines of late. Whats your take on the arc of the gun control debate right now, and how does it affect you personally . Thursday, the Vice President and i spent a couple of hours in connecticut with want families of children who were killed in the sandy hook massacre. We spent times with families from the Bridgeport Community and thats where i think we should be spending our time, talking about how to reduce gun violence. We spend time talking about stupid issues like this in congress doesnt make sense. We have toviate a climate in which our children can grow up free of fear. We need a lot fewer children being killed and a lot fewer children worrying every day am i going to be safe . Whether its the south side of chicago or sandy hook or arizona or colorado, our children deserve something better. Garrett mr. Secretary its been great to see you this morning. Thanks for coming in. I appreciate it very much. We will turn to kelly ayotte, in khan e, manchester, and tim kaine. Last friday the white house said it hopes the senate meaning led by the democratic leadership will begin debates and votes on alternatives to acrosstheboard spending cuts. What is your message to the democratic leadership . How soon do you want that debate to begin and why is it taking so long for it to begin in the first place . Well, we laid a plan on the table about 10 days ago and we will be voting on it this week, major. And i completely agree i think this needs to start in the senate. If we can find a balanced package independent senate that gets bipartisan support we can avoid the and wester cuts. I just did a trip around virginia to Armed Services installations in the last week in virginia, 90,000 dodd employees getting purlod, including nurses at army hospitals, and wounded warriors, who are scheduled to transition back to civilian life who in many instances instances have as reservists and they would go back into working in National Security positionst federal level, and theyre facing hiring freezes and furloughs that make them wonder whether they can resper civilian life. There is no reason this has to happen. We need to find a balanced approach, and thats the approach we will be voting on this week. Garrett but senator kaine to my original question, why is it attacking so long . You know in the commonwealth of virginia the cuts have been in the pipeline, there have been warnings about it for a good long time, and Many Americans look at the situation and say why does it always have to wait until the last minute . Major youre right. Im new here. Ive been in the senate about six weeks. Theres no reason we should be playing this kind of brinksmanship. And we have brinksmanship around sequester and later brinksmanship around continuing resolution. What we need to do and you mentioned senator ayotte and i are on the budgeting committee. Were writing a budget in the senate this year for the First Time Since 2009. The right way to make decisions about spending brevenues and even about deficit reduction is parent of a normal, ordinary budget process. Lets get rid of the gimmickes sequester, continuing resolutioning, get back to ordinary budgeting just like what happens in every State Capitol every year. Were moving back to that, and thats going to be the solution to these exphdges doing it in a balanced way. Garrett senator ayotte, i want to bring you into the conversation. The Democratic Alternative will call fair mix of spending cuts, but also tax increases. Are you prepared to support any tax increases . Will republicans develop an alternative vathat have any loophole closings or do you think it should be done with alternative spending cuts. Major let me say that i agree with what tim said. I serve on the Budget Committee and have out raged we havent had a budget for three years because the Senate Democrats havent wanted to do it. We wouldnt be in the sequestertype situations if we prioritize spending. In terms of the democrats plan, it seems like the first thing they come up with is were going to raise taxes after having increased revenue as you recall, in january 600 billion over want next 10 years without any spending cuts. I think republicans should have an alternative inment senate. Im working on one to introduce one that will show that were looking at a little over 2 in a 3. 5 trillion pot of federal spending in 2013. So thats what we need to do. Ill capitol hill up with an alternative spending cut proposal with other colleagues in the senate. And i want to add this. I think also the notion of giving the president the discretion to make the spending cuts, i think thats a copout so i will be urging my colleagues to have an alternative. Garrett senator ayotte you proposed legislation that would allow some of these cut to be carried oaf or dealt with through attrition at the federal employee level meaning if there are people who leave the federal workforce theyre not replaced. One would be replaced for every three vacancies. Are you going to press that before the senate. I have offered that proposal along with buck makeen in the house. Its taken from the president o own fiscal commission. Im working on an alternative with other spending cuts to bring forward working with other senators that i believe we will bring forward and i think thats the right thing to do. I mean, stepping back for a minute think about you had the secretary of education on previously. If you look at between 2008 and 2010, if you add in the stimulus, the education spending increased 41 . What were looking at is how can we come up with more sensible spending reductions. I agree with tim that we dont want to undermine our National Security. I in fact traveled around the country with senators mccain and graham and actually went to virginia. Weve been talking about this for a year and asking the president for a year to come forward. In the campaign he said this wasnt going to happen. Its time for him to lead this effort as the commander in chief of this country. Garrett senator kaine and ayotte i want to ask you the largest threshold question. The Fourth Quarter g. D. P. Numbers showed negative growth and there are indications that some of that might have been caused or oridge in any evented with concern in the defense sector. Both of you represent states that have large defense either operation or contractors. Is this the wrong time to be cutting any spend in addition washington . Do we risk any sort of cracks in the economy if we go through with these no matter how theyre composed . I think it is a rich and thats why i think we need a balanced approach. The senate and house working together have already reduced spending by about 1. 4 trillion and there was a 600 billion increase in revenue. The right way to fix it Going Forward is a balanced approach that doesnt cut too deeply. Just use the virginia example. Yesterday, governor mcdonnell my governor, youll have him on in a minute, worked on a legislature of democrat schedules republicans for a compromised transportation package that reduced spending in some line items and increased revenues. It was a balanced approach. He had to buck Grover Norquist to do it. It wasnt perfect because compromises arent perfect but its that kind of balanced approach that will preserve Armed Services and defense and enable our economy to grow instead of choking off as aware whatwere seeing as a strong stock market and other indications we can have success if we approach it this way. Garrett do we have an austerity risk or do the cuts need to happen . I think we can do this in a more sensible way. What we need is leadership from the commander in chief. Rather than hes been out campaign ago even though this idea came from the white house apparently from jack liu,s had treasury nominee. Hes been out trying to blame republicans. I think the American People are tierld of the blame game to come up with responsible spending reductions. We can do that without hurting our economy. Also dealing with our tax code to make us more competitive instead of just the first answer being further increasing taxes. Thats what away can do to help Economic Growth and move forward. Garrett senator ayotte, thank you very much, senator kaine, we have to go. Thank you both very much and see you on capitol hill very soon. Well be back in one minute to hear from four of the nations governors. Nizing an industry can be a tough act to follow, but at xerox weve embraced a new role. Working behind the scenes to provide companies with services. Like helping hr departments manage benefits and pensions for over 11 million employees. Reducing document costs by up to 30 . And processing 421 billion dollars in accounts payables each year. Helping thousands of companies simplify how work gets done. Hows that for an encore . With xerox youre ready for real business. More than two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. And every day since, weve worked hard to keep it. Today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy. Weve shared what weve learned so we can all produce energy more safely. Bps also committed to america. We support nearly twohundredfifty thousand jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. Were working to fuel america for generations to come. Our commitment has never been stronger. Garrett the nations governors are in town for their annual meeting and were joined by Martin Omalley, bob mcdonnell, plus jan brewer and John Hickenlooper from colorado. Governors, its great to have you with us. I want to start with you governor omalley and mcdonald. I understand you had a conversation yesterday, and you two, despite representing different parties are trying to figure out some way to resolve the sequester acrosstheboard spending issue. What do you have to tell us . Governor macdonald and i talk fairly often actually, about issues that we share and on both sides of the potomac we sit in the middle of a corridor of science and security and this sequester stands to wipe out a lot of hardfought job gains in virginia and in maryland, so for whatever our differences might be we understand that this is an economic threat. This is going to hurt a lot of moms and dads in our region can of who go to work every day working in places like n. I. H. , n. S. A. , and also the people that work in the private sectors that support our federal government in these important mi sions. So both of us Hope Congress will come together and find a way to avoid the sequester. Garrett whats your message to republicans in the senate and house governor mcdonnell . We have to get the job done. Sequester was put in place to be a hammer not a policy, and now here we are just a week away from getting it done. Our major concern that governor omalley and i have because were such defense states 19 installations, 25,000 defense contractors in virginia is you have to cut because were in bad shape. 17 trillion almost in debt now. But dont put 50 of the cuts on defense. Our men and women in uniform while were still fighting a war in afghanistan. Thats not right way to balance the cuts that are necessary. Find another way to do it and get it done now. Garrett what are you two going to do in a unified way the next coming week. Theres going to be a debate in the senate and if thats not resolved these cuts begin on friday. Were both going to be pushing our congressional delegations garrett youll be trying to reach out to the president . Well, sure. Were going to be meeting with the president tonight and well be meeting with him tomorrow and no doubt the threat to our jobs recovery is in doubt. Weve made the tough cuts and made the tough congratulations of choices and i congratulate governor mcdonnell. He just came through a tough legislative session where they applied a balanced approach and thats what Congress Needs us to do, a balanced approach naallows us to create jobs and expand opportunities glaring governor mcdonnell, while youre here, the package you put through the legislature has tax increases. Is anything youre saying in republicans to congress who are adamantly opposed at this stage after having raised taxes on the fiscal cliff deal, lighten up on that, put taxes on the table or loophole tolz get this result. Before we approach this transportation bill this session, we had major spending cuts. Weve had other tax decreases. Weve done a lot of things to get us to be a very competitive state for job creation, economic development. But we had a different approach when it came to infrastructure. What i would say and governor omalley and i agree and were Work To