Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman and ranking member for including my amendment in this en bloc amendment. Mr. Speaker, my amendment is simple. It gives the Secretary of the Navy the authority to solicit contracts from non-homeport shipyards for maintenance work to meet surge capacity should the shipyards meet the Navy's requirement for ship repair work. Currently, the Navy has a tremendous maintenance backlog, but under current law, there are certain restrictions that limit where naval vessels can undertake maintenance repair. Unless these restrictions are lifted, the Navy's backlog will only increase exponentially. At the same time, there are qualified shipyards in the rest of the United States, including the Great Lakes, Gulf Coast, and Alaska, that can perform repair work for certain types of naval vessels. These yards have the capacity and skills to do this work. They just need the chance. Last year, an amendment of mine was adopted into the 2020 NDAA. It requests the Navy report on the feasibility of doing maintenance work on naval vessels at shipyards other than shipyards in the vessel's homeport. The report was produced this spring, and within the report, the Navy concluded that the law could be modified to allow the Navy to use non-homeport shipyards to meet surge capacity. We have done the proper examination. Now it is time to give the Navy the authority it needs to reduce its maintenance backlog.…”