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

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Co-Chair of the U.S. Senate Navy Caucus, sent 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 noted that any reduction to the Shipyard’s workforce will jeopardize our nation’s security by increasing submarine maintenance timelines.

“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,” the Senators wrote. “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.”

“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,” they concluded.

The full text of the letter can be read here.

Senators Collins and Shaheen have long advocated for New England’s shipbuilding industry and workforce, including through authorizing funding and workforce development for PNSY.  Through the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, Senators Collins and Shaheen secured full authorization for Shipbuilding Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) projects at PNSY, which will expand the Shipyard’s capacity to maintain America’s fast-attack submarine fleet. The bill also authorized more than $400 million for an extension of the multi-mission Dry Dock #1 military construction project at PNSY, and authorized $28.7 million for power plant resiliency improvements at the shipyard.