On the recordMay 25, 2011
I yield myself such time as I may consume. Very briefly, I rise in support of the gentleman from Virginia's amendment, which is a smart amendment. It gives the Navy the flexibility it should have to make sure that it gets the best deal for the taxpayer while at the same time providing a mechanism to preserve the industrial base. My friend from Virginia and I cochair the Shipbuilding Caucus, which is a bipartisan caucus, one of whose main goals is to strengthen and preserve America's shipbuilding industrial base, and that's precisely what this amendment will do. And again, it aligns the construction schedule with the statutory empowerment to the Secretary of Navy to achieve all those goals. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
