Shipbuilders Council congratulates President-elect Trump

DECEMBER 12, 2016 — The Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA) today released the following statement regarding President-elect Donald J. Trump and the members of the 115th Congress:

“We congratulate President-elect Trump, his nominees and the new and returning members of the 115th Congress and look forward to working with them on a positive agenda with a strong commitment to jobs, infrastructure projects and building up America’s Armed Forces and industrial base,” said Matthew Paxton, President of SCA.

SCA and the entire U.S. shipyard industry stands ready to work with the new Administration and Congress and we are optimistic that in addition to building towards a 350-ship Navy, we can work together on policies that remove the uncertainty of sequestration, encourage predictable funding levels and building ships ”smarter” and more efficiently, including pursuing alternative funding strategies in addition to substantial and sustained funding to maximize taxpayer dollars.

The shipyard industry is critical to national and economic security; the private shipbuilding and repair industry supports over 399,000 jobs, contributing $25.1 billion in labor income and $37.3 billion in U.S. GDP across the country. More than 5000 suppliers, many of whom are small businesses, need predictability and stability in funding for Navy ships in order to invest in the procurement process.

We look forward to working with President-elect Trump, his Administration and the Congress to achieve these goals in 2017 and beyond.