SENATE APPROVES LOTT-COLLINS RESOLUTION OPPOSING ONE SHIPYARD FOR DD(X) CONSTRUCTION

Washington, DC – The Senate tonight approved a Sense of the Senate Resolution authored by Senators Trent Lott (R-MS) and Susan Collins (R-ME) that expresses the Senate's opposition to the Department of Defense pursuing a winner-take-all acquisition strategy for the DD(X) destroyer contracts that would result in only one shipyard building all of the DD(X) destroyers. Senators Lott and Collins wrote the resolution and worked together to get broad bipartisan support from their colleagues. The Senate approved the resolution by unanimous consent.

"This sends a strong message to the Pentagon that they should not proceed with a winner-take-all acquisition strategy for the DD(X) program," said Senator Collins. "It is vital to the national security requirements of our country that we maintain two working shipyards with the capability to build major surface combatants for our naval fleet. Having only one shipyard with this capability would leave our shipbuilding industrial base vulnerable to a terrorist attack or natural disaster. It would tie our hands if we need to increase the rate of ships being produced in the future. In addition, two shipyards ensures greater competition – both in the development of cutting edge technology and in ensuring the best price for the taxpayer. The Pentagon's strategy would also jeopardize the skilled workforce we rely upon for our defense needs."

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Collins has pressed Department of Defense leaders to maintain two U.S. shipyards with the capability to design and construct surface combatant ships.

The Lott-Collins resolution reads as follows:

SEC. 510. SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE ACQUISITION OF THE NEXT GENERATION DESTROYER (DDX). (a) FINDINGS.-The Senate makes the following findings: (1) The Quadrennial Defense Review to be conducted in 2005 has not been completed. (2) The national security of the United States is best served by a competitive industrial base consisting of at least two shipyards capable of constructing major surface combatants. (b) SENSE OF SENATE.-It is the sense of the Senate that (1) it is ill-advised for the Department of Defense to pursue a winner-take-all strategy for the acquisition of destroyers under the next generation destroyer (DDX) program; and (2) the amounts identified in this resolution assume that the Department of Defense will not acquire any destroyer under the next generation destroyer program through a winner-take-all strategy. (c) WINNER-TAKE-ALL STRATEGY DEFINED. In this section, the term ''''winner-take-all strategy'''', with respect to the acquisition of destroyers under the next generation destroyer program, means the acquisition (including design and construction) of such destroyers through a single shipyard.

Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) signed onto the resolution as a cosponsor.