Maine delegation opposes budget cuts that could threaten BIW business

Courtesy / BIW The Navy may scale back plans for Burke-class destroyers, which are built at Bath Iron Works and include the USS Jason Dunham, commissioned in 2010.

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By Staff

Maine’s congressional delegation is again speaking out in opposition to proposed federal budget cuts that could jeopardize projects at Bath Iron Works.

The 2021 fiscal year budget calls for construction of two Arleigh-Burke class destroyers for the Navy, but the Defense Department has considered cutting one of them. The 500-foot guided-missile warships are built by BIW — which has launched 37 of them, including the first in 1989 — and by Huntington Ingalls Industries in Pascagoula, Miss.

Overall, the DoD has also suggested scuttling plans for five of the 12 Arleigh-Burke destroyers already budgeted to be built over the next five years.

“Maine’s congressional delegation has worked together to authorize and secure funding for robust shipbuilding. We were extremely concerned at reports that the Department of Defense had considered cutting a destroyer from the FY2021 budget,” U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District, and Jared Golden, D-Maine 2nd District, said in a statement Tuesday.

“Steady procurement of [Burke] destroyers is important for our national security … Congress has the final say on funding, and we will continue to advocate for the resources our military needs and support the hardworking men and women at BIW who build the highest quality ships for our Navy.”

The DoD cutback would reduce its shipbuilding budget through 2025 by $9.4 billion, or 8%, and shrink the size of the Navy fleet from 293 ships to 287. That number stands in contrast to the Navy’s stated goal of operating 355 ships, a target President Donald Trump has repeatedly backed.

Last month, Collins and King wrote to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper objecting to the Navy’s proposal to reduce its shipbuilding program. Pingree and Golden wrote a similar letter.

The proposed cuts come after a 2020 appropriations bill, signed by Trump in December, provided $5 billion for three Burke destroyers that were already planned.