Ayotte Tours Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Barracks & Child Development Center

Press Release

This afternoon, U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte visited Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to tour the military barracks and the child development center. During the visit, she met with shipyard personnel about the condition of the military barracks where junior enlisted service members live. Ayotte also toured the shipyard's child development center and discussed ways to reduce unacceptable wait times that exceed nine months. Ayotte is chair of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, which has oversight of military construction and shipyards.

"Today I saw first-hand that conditions at junior enlisted barracks 191 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard are completely unacceptable for our young sailors serving their country. I applaud the shipyard leadership and the Navy for requesting the funds to provide our sailors the accommodations they deserve. Next week in Washington, I intend to work with Senator Shaheen and our colleagues in a bipartisan manner to ensure that funding is authorized for the demolition of the current barracks and the construction of a new facility in its place, which would cost much less than upgrading and repairing the existing structure," said Senator Ayotte.

"We have a responsibility to ensure that service members and DoD civilians have access to safe, quality, and convenient childcare, but the average wait time at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard child development center is over 9 months-with more than 100 children on the wait list. We can and must do better. I look forward to working with the Department of Defense to shorten wait times and improve conditions at Department of Defense child development centers around the world-including the one at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. I am introducing an amendment next week to the annual defense bill to energize this effort."

Leadership at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard has consistently highlighted the barrack's terrible condition - including the lack of a fire suppression system, the violation of some current building and fire codes, poor ventilation, sewage failures, intermittent hot water, pest problems, mold, and numerous other problems.

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