GOP win makes sequestration "relief" unlikely

Don’t expect relief from the budget cuts under sequestration anytime soon, a panel of current and former lawmakers said at a defense conference over the weekend.

It would take a national security crisis like the Sept. 11 attacks for Congress to roll back the defense cuts it passed in 2011, former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said, according to National Defense Magazine.

Cantor said the dynamics in Congress that have stood in the way of reversing the $1 trillion in cuts are still in place — namely, disagreement on tax and spending reform. Half of the sequester cuts will hit the Defense Department, for $500 billion over 10 years, doubling already scheduled reductions in spending.