WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Ander Crenshaw, a member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, today (11/1) released the following statement regarding Admiral Jonathan Greenert’s letter to the Virginia Congressional Delegation on the decision to homeport a nuclear aircraft carrier at Mayport:
“No program, project, or funding line should be exempt from the Navy’s annual review, especially at a time when we are asking military services to do more with less. The Navy and Department of Defense review budget scenarios multiple times, and while the names and reasons for the reviews have changed, the facts have not.
“The rationale and decision making for having two East Coast nuclear carrier homeports remains as solid as it ever has been – a point Admiral Greenert underscores in his letter by referring the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review. Moreover, in a December 2010 speech before the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus stated that the Navy has an ‘unwavering’ commitment to homeporting a nuclear aircraft carrier at Mayport. ‘We have to disperse our carrier fleet,’ Mabus told the group.
“Opponents of homeporting a carrier at Mayport stand opposite to the facts and viewpoints of our top military leaders. The decision to homeport a carrier at Mayport has been made, military construction projects are underway, and the strategic rationale for Mayport grows stronger each day. Our national security warrants two nuclear-capable homeports on the East Coast – one in Norfolk, one in Mayport. I plan to be on hand the day that a nuclear aircraft carrier sails in to homeport at Mayport.”
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