Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Mobile, today found out that House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Cal., has appointed him to two subcommittees that are especially important to south Alabama. Byrne will serve on the Seapower and Projection Forces and Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittees.
The Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee has direct jurisdiction over policy for the U.S. Navy, specifically the Navy contracts represented at the Austal USA facility in the Port of Mobile.
Austal employs roughly 4,000 Alabamians at the facility. Additionally, Huntington Ingalls, located across the state line in Mississippi, employs roughly 1,700 residents of Alabama’s First Congressional District and is a provider of ships for both the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. BAE Systems, C&G, Horizon, Bomonico, Sikver Ships, Rodriquez, Steiner Shipyard, Signal Ship Repair, Technico, and Master Marine also operate facilities in Alabama’s First District.
“These subcommittee assignments are a victory for our South Alabama workers at Austal and across the state line at Huntington Ingalls,” Byrne said. “From these subcommittees, I will work to protect the job-generating contracts for the cutting-edge Littoral Combat Ship and Joint High Speed Vessel built right here at home in the Port of Mobile. I look forward to working with Chairman McKeon and Subcommittee Chairman Forbes from these important posts.”
In addition to being notified of his Armed Services subcommittee assignments, Byrne announced he has joined the House Shipbuilding Caucus and the House Steel Caucus, two groups that represent closely related industries in south Alabama.
Alabama’s First Congressional District is home to a giant steel facility operated jointly by ArccelorMittal and Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corp. Other steel industry companies like ThyssenKrupp, Outokumpu Oyj, Berg Pipe, and SSAB also operate in the First District.
Byrne today called those companies “jobs providers for our region and state.”
Shipbuilding Caucus Co-Chairman Rob Wittman, R-Va., welcomed Byrne to their caucus and said it serves as “a critical forum for discussion of shipbuilding issues within Congress.”
“Shipbuilding is a major industry in Alabama’s First Congressional District, representing thousands of jobs and the livelihood of thousands of South Alabama families,” Byrne added. “This is an excellent place for me to craft policies with Members of Congress who share my commitment to jobs and building a naval fighting force for the next century.”
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