Lobbying has kicked into high gear for Maine’s congressional delegation a day after Maine’s U.S. senators added language to an appropriations bill that would block the Navy from building destroyers at only one shipyard.
The effort could have a dramatic influence on Bath Iron Works, which now shares ship building with Ingalls shipyard of Pascagoula, Miss.
U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe are lobbying their colleagues to pass the supplemental appropriations bill. Likewise, 2nd District U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud is urging his colleagues in the House to support similar language in its final version of the supplemental bill.
“As we move forward with the supplemental appropriation package, I will urge fellow members of the House to support the Senate language to continue the DD(X) program at Bath Iron Works,” said Michaud.
On Wednesday the Senate Appropriations Committee passed the supplemental bill with an amendment that has the potential to scuttle the Navy’s attempt to funnel work on its DD(X) destroyer program to one shipyard. The proposal forbids the use of federal money to change the Navy’s acquisition strategy, in effect preserving the status quo.
Currently, Navy destroyers are built at Bath Iron Works and Ingalls. Losing future destroyer contracts could cripple either yard. Both are major employers in their respective states; 6,000 employees in Maine and 12,000 in Mississippi.
The last military budget, in 2001, called for the construction of 12 DD(X) destroyers, which would be built by both yards. A revised budget calls for five destroyers.
The bill must now clear the full Senate, and where it’s likely to come up for a vote next week. The $81 billion emergency appropriation provides the money to continue the war in Iraq.
If the bill clears the Senate, it must go to a conference committee to be reconciled with the House version, then passed by both houses of Congress before going to the president.
Maine and Mississippi’s congressional delegations have been working together to preserve the shared work arrangement. The amendment was written by Collins and Snowe, but attached to the appropriations bill by Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. A nonbinding resolution calling for the preservation of the competing yards was passed unanimously by the Senate last month.
Members of both houses also initiated a letter-writing campaign to President Bush, urging him to reject a winner-take-all acquisition strategy.
Secretary of the Navy Gordon England made a recommendation in February to consolidate the work at one yard to save money and increase efficiency. The price tag for the DD(X) is estimated at $1.2 to $1.8 billion, with potential savings of $300 million per ship, said England.
His recommendation is pending at the Department of Defense. It’s unclear whether Wednesday’s Senate committee vote has any impact on the decision.
Cheryl Irwin, spokeswoman for Undersecretary of Defense Michael Wynn, said it is policy not to comment on proposed legislation. As chief administrator for acquisition and logistics, Wynn is responsible for accepting or rejecting the Navy’s recommendation to consolidate the DD(X) project at one yard.
Irwin said Wynn has no timetable to render his decision.
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