Kendra S. Horn: “The politics of the services seem to be overriding. This year Admiral Boorda walked into a meeting and said, ``Let's…”

“The politics of the services seem to be overriding. This year Admiral Boorda walked into a meeting and said, ``Let's save all the nuclear shipyards.'' There is only one nonnuclear shipyard and that is the one that is the most efficient: Long Beach. So that was Death Knell I for Long Beach Naval Shipyard. Mr. Speaker, it was the wrong way to go about it. Admiral Boorda looked me in the eye a month before the decision was made and said, ``Gee, I was sort of out of the loop. I didn't have anything to do with it.'' I thought that was a little strange for the Chief of Naval Operations, but so be it. But then we had the President in Connecticut asked about Portsmouth. There is something that goes on in New Hampshire every 4 years that I guess guided this answer. He was not alone. He had Republican candidates say just what he said. ``Aw, shucks, I sure hope that they keep Portsmouth open,'' was the attitude. That was a month before the decision was made in the Navy. That was Death Knell II. Mr. Speaker, naval political appointees are not stupid. When the boss says keep one open, it meant the death knell of the other one who had been ahead of Portsmouth, and even though they juggled the numbers and tried to make it the other way, was still one-tenth of a point ahead of Portsmouth on what really counts and that is the military value. We can argue all the disasters to unemployment, and indeed they are. Long Beach as a city has suffered more than 46 States in base closure.”