Gene Taylor Update

Gene Taylor on Pelosi, House Democrats:

"She has done a pretty good job of listening," said Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss. "She hasn't put pressure on us, and I respect that." Taylor, a moderate who's broken with Democratic congressional leaders in the past, warned, however: "A lot of freshmen rode into town on President Obama's coattails, and they're not about to desert him." If Obama stumbles, they could, too.

On Obama Defense Cuts:

“The Navy’s decision to reduce the number of Zumwalts is based on affordability and the ship’s vulnerability to emerging threats,” said U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Bay St. Louis, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee’s seapower subcommittee. Taylor said that the Navy’s decision to reduce the number of the $5 billion DDG-1000s Zumwalt-class destroyers and restart production of the smaller, cheaper $1.3 billion DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers would benefit Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding’s Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula. “The Navy will realize additional cost savings through economies of scale in constructing larger numbers of DDG-51s in series production, rather than three or less DDG-1000s,” said Taylor. “The reason that this is good news for the state of Mississippi is that Northrop Grumman will begin building the first two DDG-51 restart ships beginning in 2010 and they will continue building these ships over the next decade,” said Taylor. “By agreeing to the DDG-1000-DDG-51 swap, Northrop Grumman is aligned with where the Navy sees its future.”

Here are these observations from an Armchair Admiral

Sounds like the deal is done. I agree with everything Gene Taylor is saying, and I would add it looks like the destroyer debate that began in the House last July just ended. By my estimate, the huge winner is... Gene Taylor (D-Miss), who is without question the most important politician for the US Navy, because without his support on this issue no deal would ever get done. Interesting times. I can't wait to see the budget, which appears to include 2 DDG-51s and the rest of the funding for DDG-1002 in FY 2010.