Tuberville and colleagues urge President Trump to accelerate domestic nuclear shipbuilding

May 1, 2025 – WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) joined his Republican colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee in urging President Donald J. Trump (R) to fully implement the Shipbuilder Accountability and Workforce Support (SAWS) proposal.

Tuberville urges that the President accelerate domestic nuclear shipbuilding, including at Austal USA in Mobile. The Biden administration previously rejected this proposal, which would be the largest shipbuilding deal in American history.

"SAWS consolidates over $100 billion in past and future submarine contracts into a coordinated negotiation," the Senators wrote. "This proposal will maximize your leverage, allowing you to gain concessions from industry that would be unattainable through piecemeal approaches. By redirecting unspent funds, it delivers an immediate a pay raise for 45,000 shipbuilders, accelerates nuclear submarine production, and frees $5.7 billion from the last continuing resolution to support your Office of Shipbuilding. It will also help draw innovative tech firms into the maritime industrial base. A potential repayment of $5 to $8 billion arises only decades later if nuclear shipbuilding is shut down. This historical deal-the largest defense negotiation ever-will create a stronger Navy, a thriving workforce, and support the reindustrialization of America."

The SAWS proposal would return attack submarine production to two per year instead of the current rate of 1.2 submarines per year and give a pay raise to 45,000 blue-collar shipbuilders. As Alabama's voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee and Chairman of the SASC Subcommittee on Personnel, Senator Tuberville has long advocated for bolstering our U.S. Navy, especially as China's shipbuilding capacity continues to outpace our own.

https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/05.01.25-Joint-letter-to-POTUS-SAWS2.pdf