WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is pleased to welcome Secretary of the Navy Dr. Donald Winter to Maine today.
Secretary Winter is visiting Bath Iron Works, the Brunswick Naval Air Station, and the Kittery-Portsmouth Naval Shipyard during today’s visit.
During a private meeting with Secretary Winter in September, Senator Collins addressed the need for the Navy to permanently abandon its “one-shipyard” acquisition strategy, provide increases and stability in the shipbuilding budget, and the need to proceed with building the DD(X) destroyer at levels that will strengthen our national security and ensure a robust and skilled industrial base. During that meeting, Senator Collins invited Secretary Winter to visit Maine for a first hand look at naval operations and shipbuilding activity in Maine .
“I am pleased that Secretary Winter decided to see for himself what we in Maine already know,” said Senator Collins. “I am confident that this visit will convince Secretary Winter how important it is, for our national defense, that we maintain a skilled industrial base, like the workforce at Bath Iron Works and the Kittery-Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.”