Clay Higgins Claims Shipbuilding Is Bogged Down By ‘Disturbing Trend’ Of Government Inconsistency

yesterday

During a House Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) spoke about the challenges of government inconsistency, design changes and a lack of commitment hindering Navy shipbuilding.

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Transcript

00:00Now recognize the gentleman from Louisiana, Mr. Higgins. Thank you, Mr.

00:04Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my colleagues, I think we recognize the significance of

00:11today's hearing. We have to tackle this thing. The United States shipbuilding

00:17industry has the capacity to meet our nation's maritime needs, yet we've seen

00:23in modern history, we've seen a disturbing trend of inconsistent

00:30government contracting, excessive program engineering, design changes that are

00:36endless, lack of long-term commitment that, when all combined, that

00:45prevents shipbuilders, especially smaller shipbuilders, which have historically

00:50carried a great burden of our requirements of our nation of floated

00:55Navy that's indomitable around the world. We need our smaller shipbuilders across

01:01the country to be vibrant and successful, but we we have baked in a formula that

01:07makes it quite difficult for them to perform, and investments in like workforce

01:15expansion and infrastructure for these smaller shipyards requires a solid

01:23long-term commitment with their government partners when they're building

01:27vessels so that they can be healthy and vibrant and have the strong workforce

01:33with time on the job and the appropriate infrastructure and modernization to

01:38perform on the next contract. So the revitalization of our shipbuilding

01:43industry could very well determine the outcome of our next conflict, so we have

01:49a heavy responsibility here to pay attention to it, and I would like to

01:55direct my first question, more if I have time, but Ms. Oakley, given the strategic

02:03importance of strengthening our domestic shipbuilding base, which is a common

02:08theme here today, what do you see as the primary obstacle regarding what I

02:17refer to as the baked into the formula coming from the Navy and DOD

02:24regarding constant design changes and a moving target for our shipbuilding

02:32industry? Could you address that, please? Yeah, I think there's a couple of things.

02:37In my opening, I mentioned that the Navy often puts forward optimistic business

02:41cases, right? So the best case scenario in terms of the cost and schedule

02:46estimates, given the risks that are apparent on these programs, everyone knew

02:50that this was going to be a challenge to build up, for example, for the Columbia

02:53class program, the Virginia class, maintaining both of those at the same

02:57time, but we didn't act on that information soon enough to be able to

03:02respond, and so I think that really critically examining... You said soon enough,

03:06but you're describing years past, correct? Yeah. Yes, ma'am, please continue. So I

03:12think one of the biggest challenges with regard to what we've seen in Navy

03:17shipbuilding over the years in respects to design is that not enough work

03:22is done up front to be able to know what we're signing on the dotted line for.

03:26Agreed. Howard, if I can shift, because I'm respectful of your time and

03:33the ticking clock here. Regarding American yards and shipbuilding and how

03:41the Jones Act plugs in there, would you address the consequences of

03:51overdependence from an American perspective and a national security and

03:56indeed a world security perspective, where America's... The danger of

04:01overdependence on foreign shipyards and how that plugs into the Jones Act, for

04:05instance, in the icebreaker realm. I think the ship should be made in America.

04:11Would you address that topic, please, Ms. Oakley? I think there's always a

04:18challenge with regard to leveraging our allies and leveraging foreign shipyards

04:23for things that are critical to our own warfighting efforts, and I think there

04:27has to be a real understanding of what the impacts of that are when making

04:33those decisions, also balanced with what can our industrial base realistically

04:39provide us, and I think that that's part of the problem right now is that we're

04:44hoping that this industrial base can be mobilized to be able to meet our needs

04:48and grow our fleet to 381. Would you agree that to identify a category of

04:54vessels as, say, crucial vessels, would you agree generally that American

05:01treasures should be invested in American shipyards in the building of

05:05crucial vessels? I mean, I would say that the Navy would agree with you. I don't

05:10know that I necessarily have a position on that. Thank you, madam, for an honest

05:14answer. Mr. Chairman, I yield.

Clay Higgins Claims Shipbuilding Is Bogged Down By ‘Disturbing Trend’ Of Government Inconsistency

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