Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise today to address my grave concerns with the recent closure of four Navy dry docks that are responsible for maintaining our Navy fleet and sustaining our Naval seapower and maritime strength. Approximately 7 weeks ago, the U.S. Navy closed three dry docks at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton and another at the nearby Trident Refit Facility in Bangor, Washington. One of these dry docks that was closed was the only dry dock on the West Coast certified to repair a nuclear aircraft carrier. Without this vital infrastructure in place, our aircraft carriers in the Pacific are left completely vulnerable. We are now left with one dry dock on the East Coast that has the capacity to repair an aircraft carrier. Combined, these shipyards used to have 22 dry docks. With 4 out of commission, we are down to 18 and have lost 22 percent of our critical Naval support infrastructure. We are now left with one dry dock on the East Coast that has the capacity to repair an aircraft carrier. As a result of significant divestment in the 1990s, our Nation has only four public shipyards: Puget Sound and Pearl Harbor on the West Coast and Norfolk and Portsmouth on the East Coast. As you can see here in this graph, the U.S. now has the fewest public shipyards than any other time since the end of World War II. Additionally, we now have 36 percent of the Navy's attack submarine fleet either in or waiting for maintenance.…”