A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced legislation to shield America’s public shipyards from federal hiring freezes and mass layoffs as the Trump administration has sought to shrink the federal civilian workforce.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., along with Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, announced Tuesday the Protecting Public Naval Shipyards, or PSNY, Act , which would exempt certain jobs at public shipyards from workforce reductions.

“Our shipyard workforce represents an essential component of our national defense and preparedness — they should have never been subjected to this administration’s ill-considered hiring freezes,” Shaheen said in a release.

The bill seeks to exempt America’s four public shipyards: Norfolk Naval Ship

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