Political Quotes

“The U.S. shipyards play an important role in supporting our Nation's maritime presence by building and repairing our domestic fleet. The industry has a significant impact on our national economy by adding billions of dollars to our annual output. The commercial shipbuilding and ship repair industry is a pillar of the American steelworker labor force, employing nearly 40,000 skilled workers. In the year 2000, the Philadelphia shipyard was rebuilt on the site of the U.S. Navy shipyard. The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was a historical institution in Philadelphia, employed upwards of 40,000 during the height of the war. At the time of its closing, it employed about 7,000. We fought the case to retain the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States because the government on the BRAC had concealed information from admirals that the yard ought to be kept open. But the case was too difficult, argued on the grounds that there was an unconstitutional delegation of authority to the base-closing commission. But the Supreme Court would have had to have overturned some 300 decisions to leave the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard intact. The Aker Philadelphia Shipyard employs some 1,200 highly skilled professional workers. Since 2003, it has built more than 50 percent of the large commercial vessels produced in the United States.”