[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 25 (Thursday, February 11, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H720]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1215
                          LITTORAL COMBAT SHIP

  (Mr. BYRNE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my disappointment 
with the President's budget request.
  I am especially concerned about the President's proposal to cut the 
Littoral Combat Ship program. These ships are built, in part, by Austal 
USA in my home district.
  I have seen these ships being built, I have talked to the Navy 
leadership, and I have visited with the sailors who are actually 
working on these vessels. They all support the LCS and the vital role 
it plays in the Navy's fleet. In fact, just last year, Secretary of the 
Navy Ray Mabus said: ``We have a need, a demonstrated need, for 52 of 
these small surface combatants.''
  Cutting the LCS program, along with failing to include an additional 
Expeditionary Fast Transport ship, would be a tremendous mistake as it 
relates to maintaining the workforce base that we have worked so hard 
to build up along the Gulf Coast.
  So I have a message for the 4,000 people who work at the Austal 
shipyard in Mobile: This proposal from a lameduck Secretary of Defense 
and a lameduck President will not stand.
  I will fight every day to make sure that our Navy has the resources 
they want and need to protect our Nation and keep sea lanes open. The 
LCS is a critical part of that mission.

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