The top senator on the panel that funds defense spending toured Newport News Shipbuilding Friday and urged Republicans to hash out a budget that could ease the pain of sequestration.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, was joined by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, on a three-hour tour of the nation's largest shipyard, the sole manufacturer of the nation's nuclear aircraft carriers and one of two makers of submarines. Immediately after the tour the senators held a press conference and called on a few GOP Senators to allow budget negotiations to move forward.
"We're facing challenges the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time when it comes to the budget," Durbin said, before offering a word of sympathy to military civilian personnel who are being furloughed as a sequestration-related cost-cutting measure.
"I just want to say a word of apology to the fine men and women on the civilian side of our (military) workforce who do such an extraordinary job to keep America safe … who are facing personal sacrifice and family sacrifice because of some budget decisions — wrongheaded decisions as far as I'm concerned," he said.
With the House and Senate both passing budgets for the first time in years, Durbin said the two chambers should form a conference committee, compromise on their respective budgets, and, ultimately, craft a debt-cutting plan that's an alternative to sequestration.
House Speaker John Boehner has indicated his preference to continue private negotiations on the budget before going to a committee, and Kaine said several Senate Republicans at his request have blocked Democrats, who don't have 60 votes needed to block a filibuster, from forcing the issue by appointing conference negotiators.
"This is not all Republicans trying to block us," said Kaine, who said that Sen. John McCain, for example has backed efforts to start the conference committee process.
But, he added, "the minority in the Senate … at the request of House Republicans is saying, 'We do not want to sit down and listen and even make the first step to try to find an effort at compromise."
Kaine said conservative Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, as well as Florida's Marco Rubio have all played a role in holding up the conference committee process.
Carrier cost
Durbin said he also had a frank conversation during his morning tour with shipyard executives about cost overruns on the Gerald R. Ford carrier, and added that he's satisfied that lessons learned building the first-in-its-class ship will translate to cost savings down the road.
"When we get into the next phase," Durbin said,
We're going to use the savings based on things that we did and learned on (the Ford) so, if this works as planned, each successive carrier is going to be more cost-efficient and is going to save taxpayers money
"I'm new to this job," Durbin said, referring to his position as chair of the Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee. "But they made some dramatic and specific points about how they're going to save money."
Sequestration and the shipyard
Durbin also addressed sequestration's potential impact on shipbuilding and on shipyard workers, as he and Kaine stood outside shipyard offices overlooking the recently retired USS Enterprise aircraft carrier.
"If we don't have a steady commitment to the kind of ship construction and rehab that's going on behind me, we're going to jeopardize that great workforce," he said. "We've got to make certain they have continuity of work … so we have the skilled shipbuilders available when we need them."
Because of long-term ship construction and maintenance projects already under contract, the shipyard, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is relatively shielded from the most immediate impacts of sequestration when compared to other defense contractors.
Huntington Ingalls CEO and president Mike Petters acknowledged that in an interview with the Daily Press following the press conference, but said that sequestration will be very disruptive in the long term.
"When we've signed a contract we're committed to that work and the taxpayers are committed," Petters said. "So what we're really talking about right now, is the timing and the strategy that lays out ship procurement over the next three to five years. That's the issue for us."