Few in Washington believe that “the sequester” – automatic spending cuts that will hit the federal budget to the tune of $85 billion as of March 1 – is a good idea. It has been described variously as a blunt instrument, a cleaver, stupid, and akin to shooting the Department of Defense in the head.

But what’s been proposed as an alternative?

Well, members of Congress, the White House, and deficit-reduction gurus Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles (remember their special bipartisan commission?) have all put forward their plans to replace it. The thinking is that surely there is a better way than to proceed with the sequester’s across-the-board cuts for every line in the federal budget, as if each is of equal importance.

While the sequester will require cuts in nearly all core federal functions, some slices of government are exempt. Social Security payments will still go out as usual. Active-duty military personnel won’t be cut; nor will services for veterans. Some social services, including nutrition assistance and the Medicaid health program for poor Americans, are also exempt from cuts.

But pretty much everything else is sequester-eligible. What to do instead? Here are five anti-sequester options that are out there.