16 Senators Request More Naval Funding

[SWJED]

27 June The Hill - 16 Senators Request More Naval Funding.

...Sixteen lawmakers wrote a letter to Rumsfeld on Friday asking him to increase the Navy’s top-line budget to provide $14 billion for ship procurement....

The letter was signed by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Jim Talent (R-Mo.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.), Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), David Vitter (R-La.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.).

Most of the lawmakers are from states that have large shipbuilding facilities or companies that work directly with the industry....

[Strickland]

How shocking! I cant believe that Senators who represent shipyards or naval bases/stations in Maine, Conn., S.C., R.I., Hawaii and Wash. would want more money. I am confident that it is because they are true believers in sea power.

[SWJED]

“Some experts have projected that China’s Navy will outnumber the U.S. fleet by 2015, less than one decade from now,” the Senators wrote.

Yea, right - it's the numbers that count - not the capabilities of the platforms and crew.

Using that logic we should also have a ground force of 1.6 million plus to make sure we are at least equal with the PLA.

[Martin]

Yea, right - it's the numbers that count - not the capabilities of the platforms and crew.

Using that logic we should also have a ground force of 1.6 million plus to make sure we are at least equal with the PLA.

Doesn't the scale tip at some point? You can only sink so many at one time. They become better, too.

Martin