Senate Confirms Another Top Trump Nominee

“The U.S. Navy is at a crossroads, extended deployments, inadequate maintenance, huge cost overruns, delayed shipbuilding, failed audits, subpar housing, and sadly, record high suicide rates are systemic failures that have gone unaddressed for far too long, and frankly, this is unacceptable,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Phelan told the panel the Trump administration’s top priority for the Department of the Navy was shipbuilding, which is years behind schedule and experiencing major cost overruns, especially for submarines and large capital warships like aircraft carriers.

“I don’t think I could say shipbuilding enough times,” he told the panel during his confirmation hearing when asked about President Donald Trump’s priorities, USNI noted.

He committed to reviewing the Navy’s current contracts and ensuring a clean audit for the Department of the Navy.

“I intend to sit down day one, and we are going to go through every contract that we have and understand what exactly they say and what flexibility they do or do not give us, what contract needs to change or not change, and why,” he told the panel.

“I intend to do the same thing as it relates to an audit. I need to understand why the Navy cannot pass an audit,” he added.

He also told the committee that while he respects and appreciates “stability and tradition,” when it “suffocates adaptability, innovation, collaboration and trust, it erodes an organization’s ability to win.”

Phelan went on to argue that he understands “that some may question why a businessman who did not wear the uniform should lead the Navy,” and he respected that concern.

“The Navy and the Marine Corps already possess extraordinary operational expertise within their ranks. My role is to utilize that expertise and strengthen it to step outside the status quo and take decisive action with a results-oriented approach,” he said, The Hill noted.

During his confirmation hearing, Phelan honed in on the much-delayed Constellation-class frigate program, vowing to quickly evaluate the program’s problems.

“This program is a mess from what it looks like,” Phelan told the panel. “If confirmed, I plan to dig into this very quickly and understand the issues. And we’ll come back to this committee very fast with the knowledge that we have as soon as we get to the root cause of the problem.”

During the hearing, retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), whose home state borders the Wisconsin shipyard building the frigate, pressed John Phelan on the ongoing program at Fincantieri Marinette Marine.

The confirmation is another significant victory for President Trump and his administration as they prepare for a productive second year in office with many items on the agenda to accomplish.

The Senate will be busy as we inch closer to November’s midterm elections.