In less than a month the Quad Cities could see massive cuts to its largest employer.
The Rock Island Arsenal and its contractors are bracing for the federal budget sequester to take place in March.
That means jobs will be on the line if lawmakers don't figure out a way to avoid these deep spending cuts.
As Millions of dollars in contracts could evaporate from local employers.
Lawmakers have already approved a 500 billion dollar cut in defense spending.
The sequester would take away another 500 billion dollars from the military if it takes effect.
At the Arsenal, the Army bought 34 million dollars worth of services from one client over the last three years.
Any deep cuts will have a severe impact.
"There would be a trickle down into the defense industry that reside in the Quad Cities, what those cutbacks would be we don't know either," says MandusGroup Vice President Sam Kupresin.
He hopes the sequester will be gotten rid of. Because if enacted, the cuts will hurt.
"If sequestration were enacted, we in the Quad Cities, let alone our own business, the Quad Cities in general would feel the pain both on the Arsenal itself, there probably would be cutbacks."
MandusGroup builds hydraulic repair trailers and artillery repair kits. It's just one of 212 contractors supporting Arsenal Island over the last three years representing over 133 million dollars in private business, army depots can't replace.
"Those aren't enough obviously to manufacture and sustain the vast amount of military equipment we have in our military so you need defense contractors to supplement that."
Kupresin says a draw down is expected, that's normal for the end of every war. The sequester though represents something more than that. A trillion dollars out of the defense budget could trigger another round of base closures. Further cutting into the private sector defense industry.
"You need to keep a substantial warm civilian industrial base in preparation for what may come in the future too."
All things Kupresin wants Congress to measure carefully.
The sequester would also cut back spending on non-military spending.
The White House released a list of agencies that would be affected, including the FBI, FEMA, and the IRS.
