Congressman Neal Dunn, M.D. (FL-02) has joined 140 House members in calling for the end of the defense sequestration policy – the automatic, across-the-board military budget cuts enacted in 2011.
In a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan, the lawmakers wrote that “President Obama’s sequestration policy continues to harm our military and greatly diminishes our ability to defend our global position. Congress must take immediate action to reverse this harmful trend.”
The lawmakers requested that Speaker Ryan schedule a vote in the House to repeal the defense sequester, which cuts national defense funding by $500 billion over the course of a decade.
“Sequestration diminishes our military’s readiness, impedes our ability to deter adversaries effectively, and ravages our defense communities across the country,” the lawmakers added.
Military officials have long warned about the harm these cuts will do. Testifying before the Senate in March, Secretary of Defense James Mattis said, “We must recognize that hesitation now to invest in defense would deepen the strategic mismatch between our future security and the military means to protect our people and freedoms.”
Dr. Dunn is a strong supporter of rebuilding our military and giving our men and women in uniform the tools they need to accomplish their mission. In a recent newspaper column on his visit with the Florida National Guard in Iraq and Kuwait, Dr. Dunn highlighted the challenges sequestration places on our troops.
“We have hollowed out our armed services,” Dr. Dunn wrote, “leaving them with tools and weapons that are decades old at a time when technology is leaping forward faster than ever. Their vehicles, aircraft, and weapon systems were designed for another time, and they have been used relentlessly in battle, long past their designed lifespan.”
The letter to the Speaker was organized by Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), the Chairman of the Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee.
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