Delegation from Congress visits Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
BREMERTON — Four members of Congress visited the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on Thursday, touting the need to invest billions into its facilities and those like it around the country to sustain the Navy as an effective fighting force.
“We need to be making critical investments here,” said U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minnesota, the chairwoman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, after departing the shipyard gates.
Aging dry docks and seismic vulnerabilities at the shipyard were on display for the members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, who organized what was the subcommittee’s first trip since the COVID-19 pandemic began. That includes some $667 million in earthquake-retrofitting for the Shipyard’s 1962-built dry dock 6, the sole aircraft carrier dry dock on the west coast.
"It's one thing to talk about a naval shipyard that's 130 years old that has seismic issues, it's another to put eyes on those specific problems — and projects that need to happen to modernize the facility," Kilmer said following the tour. Also among the most urgent: the shipyard’s dry dock 3 will be obsolete around 2034, and there’s nowhere yet on the West Coast that can accommodate the Gerald Ford-class aircraft carrier, the newest generation of flattop. The shipyard has yet to announce a location but dry dock 3 appears likely.
“We’re gonna have to build one, and relatively soon,” said Ken Calvert, a California Republican who has represented the state’s Inland Empire area since 1993.
McCollum, a Democrat representing a district that includes St. Paul, Minnesota, pointed out that those across the country, including her home, join the Navy and may work in a Navy shipyard. Ensuring the shipyard receives upgrades under what is known as the Shipyard Infrastructure and Optimization Plan (SIOP), a $21 billion modernization program over the next 20 years, is vital, she said.
“It’s Congress’ responsibility,” she said.
It was Rep. Cheri Bustos’ first trip to Washington, and she noted the way funding the Navy at places like the shipyard results in a boost to the local economy.
“We’re spending money here, and that money is spent in this community,” said Bustos, a Democrat who has represented Peoria and western Illinois since 2013.
McCollum’s job is to take stock of all four of the public shipyards, including those at Norfolk, Virginia, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Those tours may help shape the fate of the funding for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and others.
“We need to take a look at the whole package,” she said.
By: Josh Farley
Source: Kitsap Sun