Political Quotes

“In 1996, when the administration sought congressional approval of the OECD Shipbuilding Agreement, the Department of Defense submitted a Navy shipbuilding budget request for the fewest numbers of ships in more than 60 years. While the Navy's Fiscal Year 1997 Future Years Defense Plan called for an average of only 5 ships per year, the Navy anticipates that it will need to procure 10 to 12 ships per year beginning in the year 2002, if it is to maintain a 346-ship fleet. The challenge for our Nation and the Navy is to sustain the critical core shipbuilding industrial base during this alltime low in Navy shipbuilding and still have the capability to meet future Navy building needs. Facing these circumstances, in 1989 the U.S. shipbuilding industry sought an international agreement to end foreign government shipbuilding subsidies. The industry believed then, as it does now, that it was essential to end foreign government participation in the commercial shipbuilding market if it was to have a fighting chance to make the transition to building both commercial and Navy ships, and thus survive this historic low in Navy shipbuilding.”