Kaine Discusses Efforts To End Sequester At BAE In Norfolk

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Armed Services Committee and the Budget Conference Committee, visited BAE Systems Ship Repair in Norfolk today to meet with shipyard workers and tour the facility. During the tour, Kaine learned more about the toll sequestration has taken on the ship repair industry, putting both the nation’s security and the regional economy at risk.

Throughout the tour, Kaine spoke with BAE employees and shared the latest on his efforts to replace the across-the-board sequester cuts and restore budget certainty for BAE and other companies in the region. As one of 29 conferees on the Budget Conference Committee, Kaine is working to resolve differences between the House and Senate 2014 budgets before December 13.

“My role on the Budget Conference Committee is to come up with a deal that replaces as much of the sequester cuts as we can,” Kaine said at the conclusion of the tour. “The uncertainty over ship repair contracts puts many important jobs across the region at risk. We're working hard to meet our December 13 deadline and I'm optimistic we will get a deal to replace as many of these harmful across-the-board cuts as we can. And if there are areas where we cannot replace them all, we can restructure them to make them less painful.”

Since passage of the Senate budget in March 2013, Kaine has consistently called for a budget conference between the House and Senate in hopes of returning to normal budgetary order and replacing the damaging sequester cuts that have severely impacted Virginia. 

###