Representatives Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) and Derek Kilmer (D-WA-06) announced a new caucus focused on the Navy’s four active public shipyards on Friday. Other members of the Public Shipyard Caucus include Representatives Elaine Luria (D-VA-02) and Bobby Scott (D-VA-03).
“The Public Shipyard Caucus is the only congressional caucus focused exclusively on the nation’s public shipyards and serves as a venue to discuss public shipyard issues, increase stakeholder support for public shipyards, and raise awareness of their importance to Congress,” a Wittman press release states.
Wittman and Luria have been leading Virginia’s congressional delegation in pushing to keep ships and spending in Hampton Roads amid a shift towards the Navy’s west coast facilities.
“I am thrilled by the strides in recent years in support for the Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Organization Program (SIOP); however, Congress must continue to embrace every opportunity to revitalize the Navy’s public shipyards. We cannot afford to be distracted from allocating the resources necessary to continue and accelerate the Navy’s plans to fund shipyard facilities, docks and dry docks, capital equipment improvements, and dredging,” Wittman said in the release, calling on President Biden’s administration to prioritize shipyards.
Other members of the caucus are from Hawaii, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine, areas near the U.S.’ other public shipyards: Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Washington, and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Hawaii. The Coast Guard Yard in Maryland was not mentioned in Wittman’s release.
“America’s public shipyards are crucial to maintaining an operational fleet that is combat-ready. We must make significant investments to modernize our public shipyards to improve readiness, accelerate maintenance and repair schedules, and better serve our fleet,” Luria said.
“I am very excited by the formation of the bipartisan Public Shipyard Caucus. I am proud to represent the oldest public shipyard in the country, and this will be a great opportunity to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in support of our public shipyards,” Scott said.
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
