Crenshaw Statement on Impact of Sequestration on Aircraft Carrier Presence in Persian Gulf

Press Release

Congressman Ander Crenshaw (R-FL), a member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, today (2/7) issued the following statement regarding Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's announcement of a delay in the deployment of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), homeported in Norfolk, VA, and the USS Gettysburg (CG-64), homeported in Mayport, FL.

"I've said it all along; the dangers of sequestration are real. The Pentagon's decision to cut aircraft carrier presence in the Persian Gulf from two to one carriers makes it clear and brings it home. The United States will have one less of its strongest military assets in one of the world's most dangerous areas.

"We can't balance the budget on the back of the military. Doing so degrades core capability and readiness, limits force projection, and unnecessarily risks our national security. This is the world we are going to live in unless the sequester is stopped."

BACKGROUND: Congressman Crenshaw continues his fight against sequestration. Actions he has taken to help prevent it include:

* Voting January 1, 2013 for The American Tax Relief Act of 2012 - legislation to provide a two-month window to find budgets cuts necessary to prevent sequestration;

* Co-sponsoring the Down Payment to Protect National Security Act - legislation in the 112th Congress that would achieve the same savings in the first year of sequestration by allowing for attrition of the federal workforce by 10 percent over ten years; and

* Voting July 18, 2012, for The Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012 -- legislation that calls on President Obama to tell the American people how he would implement drastic defense budget cuts that may be ahead under the process known as sequestration.

Further details on his legislative record to keep our military strong can be found at www.crenshaw.house.gov.

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