WASHINGTON — The defense budget sent to President Obama on Tuesday includes funding that members of Maine’s delegation hope will go toward construction of an additional warship at Bath Iron Works.
The Senate approved the bill 91-3 Tuesday, just days after the House passed the bipartisan measure, which would fund the military and ban moving some Guantanamo Bay detainees to U.S. prisons.
Sen. Angus King of Maine, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said the authorization lays the groundwork for the construction of another destroyer at Maine’s Bath Iron Works.
The spending bill includes $250 million to start work on a destroyer under the terms of a 2002 “ship swap” agreement between the Navy, BIW and Huntington Ingalls shipyard in Mississippi. The Navy has yet to decide whether BIW is owed another Arleigh Burke-class destroyer under the agreement. If the Navy balks, however, the money could be used later as part of a multi-year contract for destroyers on which the Maine shipyard could bid. Congressional negotiators reduced the amount available for another destroyer from $400 million to $250 million as part of $5 billion in cuts to the bill.
– Staff and wire reports
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