Navy League Holds Virtual Fly-In for Budget, Policy Issues
By Brett Davis
The Navy League’s Virtual Fly-In was held throughout the month of May, and aimed to get maritime budget and policy issues before lawmakers in Washington to support the sea services.
The kick-off event was held May 3 and Tuesdays through Thursdays through May 20, for a total of nine days of meetings. One hundred and nine volunteers representing every region took part, holding meetings with more than 100 congressional offices representing districts and states across the country.
In the meetings, lawmakers were asked to support an annual shipbuilding and conversion budget of $30 billion; the Marine Corps’ new force structure; a 5% boost to the Coast Guard’s operations and support budget; support for the Jones Act; an increase of $2.2 billion for the Food for Peace Program, an invaluable source of cargo for the U.S. flag fleet; and support for the SHIPYARD Act, a bipartisan bill to provide much-needed funding for shipyards and to bolster shipbuilding capacity, among several others.
Meeting participants also asked members of the U.S. Senate to support ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and asked all members of Congress to work to avoid the need for a continuing resolution in this year’s budget process.