{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.shaheen.senate.gov/news/press/icymi-shaheen-secures-exemption-to-protect-public-shipyards-in-annual-defense-bill", "ICYMI: Shaheen Secures Exemption to Protect Public Shipyards in Annual Defense Bill", "2025-12-17", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "NH", "Jeanne Shaheen", "S001181", "www.shaheen.senate.gov", "shaheen", "https://www.shaheen.senate.gov/news/press", "scraper", "(Washington, DC) \u2013 U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a top member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, secured the Protecting Naval Shipyards (PNSY) Act in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that was advanced out of the U.S. Senate. This legislation will exempt the employees from all four public shipyards from the Office of Personnel Management\u2019s (OPM) civilian hiring freeze and any future hiring freezes or reductions in force. The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is a key economic driver in New Hampshire and the surrounding region, supporting thousands of jobs integral to America\u2019s national security; and the Shipyard needs to hire almost 700 workers a year to keep up with maintenance on our Navy\u2019s fast-attack submarine fleet.\n\n\u201cThe work at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to maintain and overhaul nuclear fast-attack submarines is an essential component of our national defense,\u201d said Senator Shaheen. \u201cThis provision will ensure that our nation\u2019s four public shipyards can continue to get submarines to the Navy on time without the misguided workforce policies that created uncertainty and chaos over this past year. I look forward to seeing this bipartisan legislation head to the President\u2019s desk.\u201d\n\nAfter calls from Shaheen and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), the U.S. Department of Defense claimed to have exempted the shipyard workforce from the civilian hiring freeze. After Navy Secretary Phelan visited Portsmouth in April, at the request of Shaheen, Collins and Angus King (I-ME), the Senators sent a letter to OPM urging the agency to process personnel that have been hired and are awaiting onboarding into jobs in order to implement the Navy\u2019s exemption. Shaheen then secured Secretary Hegseth\u2019s commitment to investigate these hiring delays during his annual budget testimony \u2013 but delays still exist today. This legislation will address this needless bureaucracy once and for all.\n\nSenator Shaheen has long advocated for New England\u2019s shipbuilding industry and workforce, including through authorizing funding and workforce development for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. In the Committee-approved FY26 NDAA, Shaheen secured full authorization for the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) investments at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. She also secured a number of other provisions to increase capacity at the Shipyard and improve quality of life.\n\nClick HERE to view the national security and New Hampshire priorities Senator Shaheen secured in the NDAA.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "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://www.shaheen.senate.gov/news/press/icymi-shaheen-secures-exemption-to-protect-public-shipyards-in-annual-defense-bill"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5280430670827627, "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"}