Trump Blindsides Lawmakers With USS Truman Reversal

摘要

When the Trump administration proposed, in its March fiscal 2020 budget request, to retire an aircraft carrier more than two decades ahead of schedule, astute observers saw it for what it was: budgetary sleight of hand. The plan allowed the Pentagon to count billions of dollars in savings toward other priorities, well aware that the retirement would likely be torpedoed on Capitol Hill. The U.S. Navy is mandated by law to have 11 operational aircraft carriers, and the phaseout of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) would have dropped the fleet to 10. But before the congressional drama could play out, President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course. On April 30, about a month after the release of the Pentagon's $750 billion budget request with the carrier retirement, Trump sent Vice President Mike Pence to Norfolk Naval Station, Virginia, to deliver a message to sailors on the deck of the nuclear-powered carrier.