U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo addresses defense cuts at Ingalls supplier’s conference

U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo addresses defense cuts at Ingalls supplier’s conference

U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo said Monday that while the short-term future of Ingalls Shipbuilding is strong, proposed cuts in military spending totaling nearly a trillion dollars over the next decade makes the shipbuilding industry’s long-term future tenuous.

Palazzo, speaking at the first-ever Ingalls Shipbuilding Supplier Conference in Biloxi, said 50 percent of the cuts proposed by Congress are coming from the defense budget, which makes up less than 20 percent of all federal spending.

“This is ridiculous,” Palazzo said. “We’re fighting over shrinking budgets, but we’re not even looking at the uncontrollable mandatory costs which are going to bankrupt this nation.

“These are the largest cuts to our national defense budget, I believe, in history,” he continued, “and are coming at a time when we’ve been engaged in the highest tempo military actions in the last 12 years.”

MS Press
4/23/13