Shaheen, Collins Urge Navy to Protect Jobs at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Warn of Negative Impact on National Security

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee and Co-Chair of the U.S. Senate Navy Caucus, and U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Chair of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, are sending a bipartisan letter to the U.S. Department of the Navy urging an exemption for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard employees from the Office of Personnel Management’s deferred resignation program for federal employees. In their letter to Acting Secretary Terence G. Emmert, the Senators note that any reduction to the Shipyard’s workforce will jeopardize our nation’s security by increasing submarine maintenance timelines.

The Senators wrote, in part: “We write with concern regarding the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) recently announced policy which offers a deferred resignation program for federal employees. […] the men and women who work at our public shipyards are critical members of our defense industrial base, without whom the ability to repair, retrofit and refuel our country’s submarines would be in jeopardy. In our states, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) has nearly eight thousand civilian employees, creating more than $1.5 billion in annual economic impact in surrounding communities.”

They concluded: “We ask that the Department of the Navy engage with OPM to provide an exception for employees at PNSY and other parts of the defense industrial base from recently announced workforce-shaping policies. […] While we continue to identify opportunities to improve efficiency, reductions to the size of our defense industrial workforce cannot be one of them. To do so would make our country less safe, and we urge you to maintain this necessary investment in our economic and national security.”

The full text of the letter can be found here.

Senator Shaheen has long advocated for New England’s shipbuilding industry and workforce, including through authorizing funding and workforce development for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Through the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, Shaheen secured full authorization for the Shipbuilding Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) projects at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, which will expand the Shipyard’s capacity to maintain America’s fast-attack submarine fleet. Shaheen recently attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Shipyard for its new Waterfront Production Facility funded under SIOP. As a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations and Armed Services Committees, Senator Shaheen helped secure this funding beginning in the FY 2019 funding legislation, which she has continued in ensuing years.

Additionally, in the FY 2025 government funding bills, Shaheen and Collins worked to include a $9.5 million Congressionally Directed Spending add for a new parking structure at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard—which will contribute to quality of life for the Shipyard’s workforce.

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