(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- A painful round of spending cuts is coming down the pike in Congress, but there is still time to avoid them. It is part of last year's plan to extend the nation's debt ceiling. Members of North Carolina's congressional delegation are weighing in.

The law requires that $100 billion be automatically cut, or sequestered, in January. Hundreds of billions of additional cuts would be required over a 10-year period. Democratic Congressman David Price said the cuts are deep and random.

"The problem with the cuts is not just their size, it's their indiscriminate quality," said Price.  "The so-called sequestration process is setup to be unacceptable.  In other words, it's just to force action on other fronts."

Members of Congress agree that the reductions would be devastating, especially to the nation's defense industry, but they can't seem to agree on how to avoid them. Republican Congresswoman Renee Ellmers said they are only left with bad options.

"Sequestration, of course, being the worst possible case scenario as far as cuts, because the majority of it will come from the Department of Defense and, of course, would affect national security," said Ellmers.

She added that the cuts would be especially tough on North Carolina because of the defense presence in and around Ft. Bragg, which is part of Ellmers' district. There's still time to avoid the problem if a deal can be reached by year's end.