WASHINGTON – President Obama's White House is trying to ratchet up pressure on Congress by putting out details of federal spending cuts it says will take place if a scheduled March 1 deadline for deep automatic, government-wide spending cuts cannot be averted.

In a fact sheet, the White House cites what it calls "large and arbitrary" cuts to federal programs on education, small business, food safety, law enforcement and emergency management.

It says it could mean furloughs of hundreds of FBI agents and federal prosecutors