With a government shutdown looming, the Aerospace Industries Association is urging federal lawmakers to repeal a 2011 law that created automatic caps for defense and domestic spending.

In a Dec. 1 letter to congressional leaders, AIA and 43 aerospace industry CEOs urged Congress to repeal or substantially alter the Budget Control Act of 2011. The law created spending caps as part of a compromise between President Barack Obama and Republican lawmakers to avoid what was then a looming government shutdown.

Congress appeared poised Thursday to pass a short-term spending bill to avoid government shutdown. AIA said that any appropriations bill that doesn't eliminate and alter the caps imposed by the BCA "could undermine our collective commitment to strengthening military readiness."

The spending caps also threaten non-defense programs such as the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA, the group said.

"These non-defense programs are vital to our economic prosperity and to our ability to maintain a vibrant and robust aerospace and defense industrial base," AIA said in the letter. "They should not be penalized by sequestration's arbitrary cuts or the uncertainty that accompanies continuing resolutions." http://bit.ly/2AlJKo8

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