White House seeks 'balanced way' to budget US President Barack Obama is concerned about the effect that looming, drastic across-the-board budget cuts will have on the middle class, his new chief of staff says. Congressional Republicans have predicted the cuts will start as scheduled next month and blame Obama not only for doing little to stop them but for the idea itself. The cuts, called the sequester, would drain $US85 billion ($A82.5 billion) from the government's budget over the coming seven months. Actual cuts may be around 13 per cent for defence and nine per cent for other programs because lawmakers delayed their impact, requiring savings over a shorter period of time. The White House last week let loose a list of ways Americans would feel the trims, from longer waits at airport security to as many as 13,000 teachers being laid off. Outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told a congressional panel the sequester would hollow the US military because it would give the Pentagon little leeway in deciding how best to spend the money. Denis McDonough, the president's chief of staff, warned the cuts would come as the stock market is coming back, the housing market has improved and the number of jobs has grown, and urged Congress to consider a balanced approach that would further strengthen the economy and, in turn, the middle class. "This isn't a spending fight for us," McDonough told NBC's Meet the Press. This is a fight about whether we're going to make the investments in middle class families in this country, in education, in science and technology, in food inspection, and those kinds of things. Senate Democrats last week offered a plan they say is a balanced approach of more revenue and budget cuts. The White House supports the proposal, but it drew an icy reception from Republicans, who say the president got the tax increases he wanted during the agreement to avoid the "fiscal cliff."