Barely a week after officials at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery announced a hiring freeze, President Donald Trump made a pledge during his national address Tuesday to boost shipbuilding nationwide with a new federal office dedicated to the task.

The president, appearing before a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, addressed a number of topics, but took a moment to speak about bolstering national defense. 

Trump specifically addressed a need to “resurrect American shipbuilding,” and announced he was creating a special office of shipbuilding at the White House.

“We used to make so many ships,” he said. “We don’t make them any more very much, but we’re going to make them very fast, very soon and we’ll have a huge impact.” 

The remarks drew mixed reactions. Matthew Paxton, President of the Shipbuilders Council of America, said on social media, “We applaud the creation of the White House Office of Shipbuilding and the entire shipyard industrial base not only stands at the ready to work with the new Office of US Shipbuilding but we are also ready to answer the call to design and build America’s commercial and military fleets.”

Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) said the president’s concerns about flagging shipbuilding in the US contradicts announcements last week that efforts to cut costs nationwide were leading to the Portsmouth shipyard instilling a hiring freeze. Both Pingree and union leaders also last week heard rumors that layoffs at the shipyard were imminent.

“It’s astounding to me that, just days after it was reported that the Trump Administration would lay off workers at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the president is now claiming he plans to ‘resurrect the American shipbuilding industry,’” Pingree said in a statement. “You cannot achieve that without highly skilled professionals—especially if you’re planning to build the most advanced ships in our naval fleet at the shipyard in Kittery and at Bath Iron Works.”

Spokespersons for both the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Bath Iron Works declined comment. The Portsmouth shipyard employs more than 6,800 workers, while almost 7,000 people work at Bath Iron Works.