Baldwin girds for fight over cuts for Marinette-built Navy ships

WASHINGTON — The funding fight for Navy combat ships built in Wisconsin is set to hit the Senate this week, and Sen. Tammy Baldwin is primed for battle.

She has been meeting with officials at the Pentagon and senators in charge of vetting military spending legislation. On Monday, she is firing off a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee arguing that the Navy should be allowed to buy at least two littoral combat ships that would be built by Marinette Marine.

In the House, lawmakers authorized funding for only one Marinette ship, plus money to start a second. If the Senate goes that route, Baldwin says hundreds of jobs in northeast Wisconsin could be lost and future naval capabilities diminished.

“These cuts should be rejected,” Baldwin wrote in the letter to be sent Monday. She added that the cost of the ships would go up because suppliers had agreed to certain prices based on guaranteed bulk purchasing connected with the building of two full ships.

“In our constrained fiscal environment, this is an increase that the Navy cannot afford and will cost taxpayers more,” she said.

The House passed its military spending measure earlier this month, but not before a fight over littoral combat ships. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a Democratic lawmaker from Illinois, where defense contractor Boeing is based, tried to freeze funding for the ships until a lengthy study was finished. Another Illinois Democrat, Rep. Bill Enyart, attempted to eliminate the funding and shift it to Boeing-made aircraft, among other projects.

The funding fight promises to be just as fierce in the Senate, where the Armed Services Committee is scheduled to take up the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2015 on Wednesday.

Chuck Goddard, chief executive of Marinette Marine, said the stakes are high for Wisconsin. He said the shipyard is geared and staffed to build two ships -- the number planned for 2015 when multiship contracts were awarded in 2010. If the Senate follows the House and funds only one, Goddard said he may be forced to lay off hundreds of people.

“Our desire is to be able to get our two ships fully funded so that we can keep the stable workload that we have,” he said in an interview.

Goddard added that Baldwin has been an especially effective advocate in Washington. “I can’t say enough about the senator and the great champion she’s been for us,” he said. “She understands the need for the two ships and that’s the best situation for us to avoid these layoffs and continue the good work that’s going on.”

The littoral combat ship program has come under fire since its inception. The boats were designed to engage in combat closer to shore than other naval ships and to have weapons systems that could be swapped in and out. But the Government Accountability Office has repeatedly criticized cost overruns and flaws in design and construction. Four have been completed so far.