{"id":26674,"date":"2019-05-01T16:31:06","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T16:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/05\/01\/trump-reverses-his-own-aircraft-carrier-policy-takes-a-victory-lap\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:19:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:19:54","slug":"trump-reverses-his-own-aircraft-carrier-policy-takes-a-victory-lap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2019\/05\/01\/trump-reverses-his-own-aircraft-carrier-policy-takes-a-victory-lap\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump reverses his own aircraft carrier policy, takes a victory lap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The Trump administration\u2019s plan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2019\/03\/26\/the-pentagons-plan-to-decommission-an-aircraft-carrier-looks-half-baked-and-dead-on-arrival\/\" target=_blank>to decommission the carrier Harry S. Truman<\/a> was dead on Capitol Hill for weeks, but the president put a final stake in its heart on Wednesday \u2014 on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI am overriding the Decommission Order of the magnificent aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, built in 1998 (fairly new), and considered one of the largest and finest in the world. It will be updated at a fraction of the cost of a new one (which also are being built)!\u201d Trump said in a post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Congress, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2019\/02\/28\/house-seapower-chairman-early-aircraft-carrier-decom-is-a-non-starter\/\" target=_blank>where powerful lawmakers on both sides <\/a>of the aisle were aligned against the cost-saving move, Vice President Mike Pence\u2019s announcement of the reversal was welcomed with more than a few eye rolls. Lawmakers were mystified by the decision-making process and speculated that the White House simply saw the handwriting on the wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think they looked at the reaction that they got and how stupid it was to take something out of commission that has half of its life left,\u201d said<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2019\/03\/14\/inhofe-not-on-board-with-plans-to-shutter-aircraft-carrier\/\" target=_blank> Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe<\/a>, R-Okla. \u201cIt falls into the category of: It\u2019s the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/2019\/04\/30\/trump-white-house-reverses-course-on-decision-to-decommission-the-carrier-truman\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/truman.JPG_4515e7.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Trump administration reverses course on decision to decommission carrier Truman<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The White House has shelved plans to decommission the carrier Harry S. Truman, a move aimed at saving money for investment in long-range missiles and unmanned technologies.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An ally and confidante of Trump, Inhofe had publicly and privately expressed criticism to Trump and Trump\u2019s national security adviser, John Bolton. Inhofe has said the nation needs at least 10 carriers to fight a major war and that retiring the Truman with 20 years left in its service life was fiscally unsound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats were even more pointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI am glad to learn that the Trump Administration has finally joined a broad and bipartisan range of opponents against the Trump Administration\u2019s own plan to retire an aircraft carrier that is only about half-way through its planned service life,&#8221; said Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee\u2019s Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Courtney noted that the administration had pulled the rug out from under Navy officials who had been defending the unpopular move in budget hearings for weeks. Indeed, the Chief of Naval Operations, Secretary of the Navy and incoming CNO had all defended the Truman decom plan within hours of Pence\u2019s announcement on board the decks of the same carrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Trump Administration proposed to decommission the USS Truman in the budget request they submitted to Congress in March, and since then a successive series of Navy and Defense Department officials have consistently defended and justified this proposal \u2014 including in public hearings and closed briefings just this week,\u201d Courtney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"4649\" height=\"2926\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_19120624039757.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-58877\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_19120624039757.jpg.jpg 4649w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_19120624039757.jpg.jpg?resize=300,189 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_19120624039757.jpg.jpg?resize=768,483 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_19120624039757.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,644 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_19120624039757.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,967 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_19120624039757.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1289 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 4649px) 100vw, 4649px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Vice President Mike Pence salutes flight deck crew during a tour aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman at the Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Va., Tuesday, April 30, 2019. (AP Photo\/Steve Helber)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As of Tuesday, Courtney said his subcommittee had yet to receive any formal revision to the budget request for 2020, or to the Navy\u2019s long-range fleet inventory plans and aircraft carrier force structure reflecting this change in position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI can only hope that we now have the Administration\u2019s strong support as we prepare to mark up the 2020 defense authorization bill in the coming weeks and move ahead with our planned restoration of the refueling for the USS Harry S. Truman,\u201d Courtney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Soon after Trump\u2019s 2020 budget proposal was submitted in March, the public opposition from Inhofe and others made clear, as Courtney noted, that Congress was planning on its own to reverse plans to decommission the Truman. When major players in drafting the 2020 defense authorization bill expressed skepticism, if not outright opposition, the plan seemed utterly doomed from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI guess they discovered that their policy is not particularly good policy, or good anything,\u201d SASC ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I., said of administration officials. \u201cYou presume when they send a budget up here they think through all of these consequences thoroughly, but that\u2019s not the case with this administration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, lawmakers said they were unaware how the administration arrived at the decision to reverse itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m not privy to that,\u201d said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala. said, adding that Congress \u201cdidn\u2019t want to do it. I think it\u2019s bipartisan that the Truman has a lot more life. It\u2019s not an old ship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI thought all along that it would be in our interest to look at repairing, modernizing, whatever we need,\u201d Shelby said. \u201cThat\u2019s a good carrier and it could have a longer life. It\u2019s powerful, lethal, and we are going to build more carriers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/10\/19\/the-navy-sends-a-carrier-back-to-russias-arctic-haunts\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/truman-jet.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">The Navy sends a carrier back to Russia\u2019s Arctic haunts<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman&#039;s arrival in the Norwegian Sea Friday marks the first time in nearly 30 years that a U.S. carrier has operated there.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The unpopularity of the decom plan fueled speculation the Navy had proposed it only to bait Congress into adding back the money. On Twitter, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., derided the administration\u2019s plan to retire the Truman decades ahead of schedule as, \u201ca budget gimmick all along.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile I am glad the administration ultimately reconsidered this terrible idea, the incoherence here has not been good for morale or defense planning,\u201d Warner\u2019s post said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At least one key lawmaker who\u2019d made his opposition known, the former chairman of SASC\u2019s sea power subpanel, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Ala., was not aware Pence\u2019s announcement was coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOh, that\u2019s wonderful news,\u201d Wicker said Tuesday when informed by a reporter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, the top Democrat on the SASC Readiness subpanel, said he deduced what was coming when he learned of Pence\u2019s agenda for the day, a visit with Norfolk&#8217;s business leaders would include a stop on the Nimitz-class carrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen I heard the V.P. was going to be on the Truman today,\u201d Kaine said, \u201cI thought he can hardly go out there and thank everybody and say what a great ship without an announcement like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kaine said that he pushed back hard in several conversations with Navy officials recently to reiterate his opposition to the carrier\u2019s retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEvery time we get a strategic posture hearing they talk about how important the carriers are \u2026 and then you get the budget and it\u2019s not refueling the Truman,\u201d Kaine said. \u201cI\u2019m assuming it was reported back to the White House that this was a non-starter with Republicans and Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump&#8217;s plan to mothball the Truman was dead on Capitol Hill for weeks, but he&#8217;s put a final stake in its heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":51185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","your-military","left-column","home","middle-column"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"4":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","your-air-force"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"5":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","your-army"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"6":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","your-marine-corps","middle-column","home"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"7":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","your-navy","left-column","home"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"}}},"categories":[8,160,29,162,16,93,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3446,3361],"class_list":["post-26674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-digital-show-daily","category-naval","category-navy-league","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"RIPHFMYZD5BOJM57Y2C4AX2WKI","arc_canonical_url":"\/congress\/2019\/05\/01\/trump-reverses-his-own-aircraft-carrier-policy-takes-a-victory-lap\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trump reverses his own aircraft carrier policy, takes a victory lap - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Trump&#039;s plan to mothball the Truman was dead on Capitol Hill for weeks, but he&#039;s put a final stake in its heart.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump reverses his own aircraft carrier policy, takes a victory lap\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trump&#039;s plan to mothball the Truman was dead on Capitol Hill for weeks, but he&#039;s put a final stake in its heart.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2019\/05\/01\/trump-reverses-his-own-aircraft-carrier-policy-takes-a-victory-lap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-01T16:31:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T22:19:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joe Gould, David B. 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