Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) not only wants to repeal sequestration but he also wants to “buy it back” by closing tax loopholes, he told reporters Tuesday.
Graham said if lawmakers are going to raise defense spending by repealing sequestration, Republicans must be prepared to compromise with Democrats and raise domestic spending. This is the opposite position of House Armed Services (HASC) tactical air and land forces subcommittee Chairman Michael Turner (R-Ohio), who on Wednesday called having to raise domestic spending along with defense spending a false choice. 
“Now Democrats will say, ‘What about non defense spending?’ I can say ‘Well, let’s talk,’ and I hope that President-(elect) (Donald) Trump will listen,” Graham said at the Capitol. “To get this thing through the Senate, I think you’re going to have to look at some non-defense areas of the government to get Democrats to buy in.”
The 115th Congress, which starts Jan. 3, will feature 238 Republicans in the House to 193 Democrats. The new Senate will feature 51 Republicans, 46 Democrats and two Independents. One race is still too close to call, according to Politico.
Graham also hopes Trump will reopen the Export-Import Bank, which has been inactive for deals worth more than $10 million for nearly 18 months because Senate Banking Committee chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) is holding President Obama’s nomination of a third member for the bank’s five-person board, according to the New York Times. Without a quorum of three members, the Ex-Im Bank cannot approve transactions worth more than $10 million.
Graham complained that Ex-Im Bank gridlock cost South Carolina roughly 500 General Electric [GE] jobs to France because the United States couldn’t provide credit financing. Shelby spokeswoman Torrie Matous said Wednesday that Shelby will not return as Senate Banking Committee chairman for the next Congress due to term limits and that the fate of the Ex-Im Bank board position will be the hands of new committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).