Palazzo Completes Tour of Defense Facilities

U.S. Congressman Steven Palazzo, Mississippi’s Fourth Congressional District, is briefed about air traffic control operations by Chief Master Sgt. Terri Hartmann, 14th Operation Support Squadron Radar Approach Control Chief Controller and Senior Airman Jonathon Walker, 14th OSS Air Traffic Controller, during the Congressman Palazzo’s visit to Columbus Air Force Base, Miss. Nov. 19. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Bryan Franks)

Congressman Steven Palazzo (R-MS), member of the House Armed Services Committee and actively-serving member of the MS National Guard, completed a two-day tour of Mississippi military assets in the Golden Triangle and Meridian areas on Tuesday. Palazzo has been a vocal opponent of devastating automatic defense cuts and has worked in the House of Representatives to keep them from taking place in January 2013.

“In addition to those who serve in harm’s way, Mississippi’s workforce includes thousands who work in support of our warfighters to keep our nation safe,” Palazzo stated. “These damaging defense cuts – which House Republicans have worked so hard to keep from going into effect – are not only a threat to our national security, they are a threat to our state and local economy.”

Palazzo’s tour this week included stops at American Eurocopter and Columbus Air Force Base, Aurora Flight Sciences and Stark Aerospace as well as Naval Air Station Meridian and the 186th Air Refueling Wing at Key Field.

Palazzo is an original cosponsor of H.R. 3662, The Down Payment to Protect National Security Act, which House Armed Services Committee members introduced in December 2011. The bill would prevent the initial round of cuts scheduled to take place on January 2, 2013. In addition, the House-passed Budget Resolution initiated a “reconciliation” process, whereby certain house committees would propose changes to current spending programs in order to offset the costs of replacing the automatically scheduled sequestration cuts.

Without a solution, sequestration would cut an additional $55 billion per year from the levels established in the Budget Control Act. In total, nearly $1 trillion could be cut from defense budgets over the next ten years.