Press Releases
Pingree, Golden Invite House Armed Services Committee Leadership to Bath Iron Works
Washington,
January 14, 2020
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (ME-01) and Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) wrote to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces today to invite them to tour Bath Iron Works (BIW). “Given your leadership positions on the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee and your representation of naval construction shipyards and their workers in your districts, we wish to extend an opportunity for you to tour the facilities at BIW and meet with its world-class workforce,” wrote Pingree and Golden. “BIW is the largest non-service sector employer in Maine and has been a cornerstone of our state’s economy for more than a century. As you will hear often, ‘Bath built is best built,’ – and we mean it.” The invite to Subcommittee Chairman Joe Courtney (CT-02) and Ranking Member Rob Wittman (VA-01) comes amid reports that the President’s FY 2021 budget request may propose reductions in naval shipbuilding at shipyards like BIW. Heading the Seapower and Projection Subcommittee, Courtney and Wittman oversee House policymaking for military shipbuilding. Maine’s U.S. Representatives’ invitation to Congressmen Courtney and Wittman follows a letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper last week. In their letter, Pingree and Golden raised concerns over how the reported shipbuilding reductions would impact American national security, as well as the Administration’s stated goal of a 355-ship Navy and the long-term readiness of the defense industrial base. Read a copy of Pingree and Golden’s letter to Courtney and Wittman here. ### |