Congressman Turner wants vote to repeal defense sequestration cuts

A Dayton congressman has renewed a call to repeal sequestration, or automatic federal budget cuts that have targeted Pentagon defense spending.

In a May 2 letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, U.S. Rep. Mike Turner urged a vote to repeal sequestration on the defense budget.

Turner organized the letter to Ryan and gathered support from 140 Republican congressional lawmakers to sign it.

“It is clear there is now broad support ranging support in both the executive and legislative branches of government for the immediate repeal of defense sequestration,” lawmakers wrote.

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The congressional letter cited references then Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump made last September promising to eliminate the defense sequester “as soon as I take office.”

“Many members” of the current Congress “have never cast a vote on sequestration,” the lawmakers’ letter said. “Sequestration diminishes our military’s readiness, impedes our ability to deter adversaries effectively, and ravages our defense communities across the country.”

The letter was released as the House passed a $1.1 trillion omnibus bill Wednesday that added $15 billion to a defense budget request through the end of the fiscal year. The spending bill heads to the Senate, which has until Friday to pass the legislation to avert a partial federal government shutdown.

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Sequestration was enacted under the Budget Control Act of 2011, which capped defense spending for a decade.

Turner is chairman of the House Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee. The Republican’s district spans Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, headquarters of the Air Force Materiel Command and the Air Force Research Laboratory.

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