Upton says he sees no way around sequester

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) told a Michigan radio station Tuesday that he doesn't see any viable way around the $85 billion budget cut, known as the sequester, that is due to take place March 1.

"We're now in the final throes of ... March 1, coming in for these automatic cuts, and they're likely to happen," Upton told WSJM radio in Michigan. "I don't see a scenario where they don't."

House Republicans have insisted that the Senate act first on a bill to replace the sequester. But the bill Senate Democrats are preparing is unlikely to win much GOP support because it proposes $55 billion in new taxes.

The sequester would split an $85 billion cut between defense and non-defense discretionary spending. On Wednesday, the Defense Department said it would handle the cut by furloughing 800,000 civilian employees for 22 days.