U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) today voted in favor of the Sequestration Transparency Act which calls on the president to submit a report to Congress 30 days after enactment of the bill to fully detail the defense budget cuts that could take place in January 2013.

“Since the president has failed to offer a specific proposal to replace the sequester, it is vital that he detail how he will implement these cuts. The American people deserve to know this and he needs to be transparent about his decisions impacting the lives of all Americans,” Luetkemeyer said. “Simply put, we need more transparency from this administration. The American taxpayers and the men and women fighting for our country deserve to know and understand the effects of sequestration in a timely manner.”

The report that Congress is requesting must include an estimate of sequestration percentages, amounts necessary to achieve the reduction for each spending category and an identification of the reductions required for each budget account at the program. In May, Luetkemeyer voted for the Sequester Replace Reconciliation Act (SRAA), which would replace the defense spending cuts currently in place with reductions to other federal programs. This would restore $78 billion in defense funding that is scheduled to end in January 2013.

Luetkemeyer said that the SRAA more than offsets the cost of the sequester and the Congressional Budget Office has scored that the bill will result in $242.8 billion in deficit reduction over 10 years.  While the House has acted, Senate Democrats and the White House remain unwilling to offer a specific proposal to fix the sequester.

“The Constitution requires us to provide for the common defense and the president owes the American people an explanation of where these defense cuts are going to come from and what impact they will have on our national security.  It is clear to me that we should replace the sequester with sensible spending cuts to less important programs,” Luetkemeyer said.