Give ’em hell, Susan.
That’s our advice to Sen. Susan Collins who will have the opportunity today to grill the secretary of the Navy about Bush administration plans that could threaten the existence of Bath Iron Works.
Two different proposals have put BIW in the cross hairs and pumped up worry over the fate of the shipyard and its 6,200 employees. In its budget for 2006, the administration cuts in half the number of next-generation destroyers it plans to purchase. Bath is one of only two shipyards involved in the construction of the DD(X). The other is Ingalls Shipyard in Mississippi. Perhaps even more foreboding, if you can believe it gets worse than the proposed $586 million cut, the Pentagon has said in a memo it would like to go with a single shipyard on the project. One of the two would lose out completely.
Ingalls is larger, and there’s a lot of concern that it has a built-in advantage in a winner-take-all competition. Bigger might not mean better, but it usually means cheaper.
It’s not only about jobs here in Maine, though that is certainly part of it. The country needs a healthy, diverse and dynamic manufacturing sector, which includes multiple outlets for the construction of warships. Once the infrastructure at a place like Bath Iron Works is shuttered, it’s difficult – if not impossible – to reopen.
They’re not making widgets at BIW. You can’t simply oil the machines and shut the factory door and expect the capacity to exist down the road.
America’s ability to project power around the world, to aid allies and answer the call for humanitarian missions depends on a strong Navy and diverse capabilities. Limiting the capacity to answer that call doesn’t make sense.
Maine’s congressional delegation is united in its opposition to President Bush’s plans. Today, Collins has the opportunity to hold the Navy – and the administration – accountable for its shortsighted approach to shipbuilding.
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