U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree signed a letter last week urging her colleagues in the House of Representatives to give Bath Iron Works a $100 million allocation she originally voted against in December.
The House passed the National Defense Authorization Act last month, with a vote of 350-69. The NDAA included funding provisions for ship-building projects at BIW, yet Pingree voted against it.
Now, Pingree has joined U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, who voted with Republicans in favor of the NDAA, to write a letter to top members of the House Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations.
The members of Congress wrote, “The DDG-51 is a workhorse of the fleet and restoring the funding for the 10th ship in the multiyear procurement program is essential to making sure workers at the yards building these ships stay on the job and we maintain the individual shipbuilding capacity that is critical to maintaining the Navy’s readiness.”
The Portland Press Herald, a newspaper owned by Pingree’s husband, S. Donald Sussman, wrote about the letter but failed to mention Pingree’s flip-flop.
Pingree’s office did not issue a press release explaining her vote on the NDAA.
“…but failed to mention Pingree’s flip-flop.” Minor detail – Ran out of space – Not news-worthy, really and unrelated to the story. Could confuse readers.
Shades of John Kerry. She was against it before she was for it. It’s an election year dontcha know!