Senator urges president to fund three LCSs

A Wisconsin senator is urging the president to include funding for three Littoral Combat Ships in his fiscal year 2018 budget request.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), in a letter sent to the White House last week, pitches the move as a way to boost U.S. jobs. Baldwin's state is home to Fincantieri Marinette Marine.

"You and I share the goal of supporting American workers, which is why I believe we can work together on the LCS program," she wrote. "Indeed, the LCS is a quintessential Made in America program, and its strength, like that of American manufacturing, rests in the strength of the U.S. worker."

There are today 2,200 employees at Marinette building the Freedom-class variant LCS, Baldwin added.

"Including fewer than three LCS in your FY18 budget request would result in layoffs of highly-skilled manufacturing workers in the Midwest beginning next summer," she wrote. "In Wisconsin, only two LCS in FY18 would result in approximately 450 direct shipyard worker layoffs, or 20 percent of the workforce at the yard, and a total of 1,200 jobs lost across the state."