Reps: Not enough shipbuilding info

Two Congressmen have said they don’t have enough information to evaluate the administration’s “hard rudder turn” on its shipbuilding budget that was presented last month. “We’re weeks away from having to put this thing away,” and his panel doesn’t have the required documents for oversight, Rep. Joe Courtney, (D-Conn.), said on Monday at the Hudson Institute. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper ordered to hold off on delivering the Navy’s long-range plan pending a DoD evaluation. Without supporting documents, “this budget is really a problem,” he said. Even with documents, he continued, “we’re going to move heaven and earth to get (the budget request) changed” to boost shipbuilding, starting with a Virginia-class submarine. Rep. Rob Wittman, (R-Va.), at the same event, said “you really have to emphasize the rebuilding of the Navy.” The shifting of $4B from shipbuilding to operations and maintenance in the FY 2021 means losing a second Virginia submarine. The shift also puts on hold decisions about destroyer-buys, new classes of amphibious ships and the advisability of retiring aging ships. The fear in the shipbuilding industry is that the plan will return to peaks and valleys that would make it difficult to hire and retain skilled workers, and make long-lead purchases necessary to build submarines and surface warships. (Source: USNI News 03/10/20) Both congressmen are from either shipbuilding states or have submarine/surface ship bases. https://news.usni.org/2020/03/10/lawmakers-still-lack-details-on-pentagon-shipbuilding-plan