A Senator's Hour-Long Fight Saved Puget Sound's Dry Dock
Washington's Senator Squire talked the Senate out of deep cuts to the Puget Sound dry dock, keeping the project alive and its funding immediately available.
Washington City, March 3.—Special.—Senator Squire made a big fight last night for the Puget Sound dry dock, in which he achieved almost a complete success. The original appropriation in the House called for a substantial sum, which had been cut down by the Senate Appropriations Committee to a much smaller figure. Gorman, in charge of the bill, refused to grant another dollar.
Senator Squire made a powerful speech of over an hour's duration, urging the great importance of the work and the immense resources of Washington, and finally won a victory. As a result of his strong presentation of the case, Gorman agreed to fix the appropriation at only $15,000 less than the original amount. It had also been intended to strike out the provision making the appropriation immediately available, which would have had the effect of stopping work on the dock until after June 30, and this, too, was retained as a result of Mr. Squire's able and eloquent appeal.
“Senator Squire made a powerful speech of over an hour's duration, urging the great importance of the work, the immense resources of Washington, and finally won a victory.”
The dry dock fight was an early lesson in how federal earmarks and Senate seniority could make or break Puget Sound infrastructure. The facility at the center of Squire's speech became part of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, still one of the region's major employers. Then as now, a single lawmaker's stamina can decide whether a local project survives the budget knife.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.