{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://golden.house.gov/media/press-releases/golden-urges-hegseth-to-pump-brakes-on-planned-trump-battleship", "Golden urges Hegseth to pump brakes on planned Trump battleship", "2026-04-29", "2026", "2026-04", "Democrat", "House", "ME", "Jared F. Golden", "G000592", "golden.house.gov", "golden", "https://golden.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2014 Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) today cautioned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth over plans to rush a costly, unproven battleship while slowing production of the proven DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers built at Bath Iron Works.\n\nHegseth appeared before the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), on which Golden is a member, to present the Pentagon\u2019s proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget. While the plan cuts production of DDG-51s, it includes $17 billion for a new \u201cTrump-class\u201d battleship on a rushed timeline.\n\n\u201cEveryone on this committee knows about the Navy\u2019s struggles to successfully design, manage and field new classes of ships,\u201d Golden said, citing the Littoral Combat Ships, Zumwalt-class destroyers and Constellation-class frigates \u2014 all of which had to be scrapped due to challenges such as cost overruns, design problems and scheduling delays.\n\n\u201cRecent history is littered with failed Navy efforts to replace existing, successful programs that remain the best in class worldwide \u2014 including the Bath-built Arleigh Burke destroyers. This isn\u2019t the failure of our shipbuilders or our sailors. It\u2019s a failure by top brass to learn a simple lesson: If it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it. My sincere hope is that Secretary Hegseth, the Navy and Congress will pump the brakes on this battleship and focus on producing ships we know can meet our needs today.\u201d\n\nBath Iron Works has built dozens of Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, including USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr., which entered service earlier this month. Golden has long advocated, successfully, for multi-ship procurement in defense appropriations bills to ensure not only maritime combat readiness but stable demand for highly skilled, good-paying jobs at BIW.\n\nHegseth himself called the destroyer the \u201cworkhorse\u201d of the U.S. Navy when he visited BIW earlier this year and told shipbuilders that the Pentagon would \u201cmax out\u201d on destroyer procurement. But the Fiscal Year 2027 budget proposal requests just one DDG-51. Instead, it proposes construction of a new battleship named for the president with a price tag of $17 billion \u2014 enough to fund six DDG-51s.\n\nGolden noted that the Trump-class ship would be a return to a vessel style not used since WWII. Experts have raised questions about the proposed battleship\u2019s ability to meet modern surface combatant needs, with one suggesting that the ship will never hit the water.\n\n\u201cThe proposed battleship is a high-risk, low-reward proposition and the cost will be high \u2014 not just for taxpayers, but for the lost opportunity to maintain the supply of destroyers proven to meet our surface fleet's needs,\u201d Golden said.\n\nHASC will continue to consider the Pentagon\u2019s budget request in the coming weeks. Video of Golden\u2019s remarks can be viewed here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-06-04T06:38:12Z", "2026-06-04T06:39:44Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://golden.house.gov/media/press-releases/golden-urges-hegseth-to-pump-brakes-on-planned-trump-battleship"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6747341249138117, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}