Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Two-Ocean Navy Act, also known as the Vinson-Walsh Act, was a United States law enacted on the 19th of July, 1940. It was the largest naval procurement bill in American history at that time, authorizing a 70% increase in the size of the United States Navy.
Carl Vinson and David I. Walsh were the chairs of the Naval Affairs Committees in the House and Senate respectively. The act was named for them, and both played key roles in pushing the legislation through Congress.
The act passed after German troops conquered France on the 17th of June, 1940, alarming American military planners. The following day, Chief of Naval Operations Harold Stark requested four billion dollars from Congress to expand the fleet, and the House voted 316-0 in less than an hour of debate.
Harold Stark requested 257 new ships totaling 1,325,000 tons. The final act authorized five battleships, six large cruisers, four anti-aircraft cruisers, 115 destroyers, and 15,000 aircraft, among other vessels and conversions.
Vinson stated that "the backbone of the Navy today is the aircraft carrier," describing the carrier grouped with destroyers, cruisers, and submarines as "the spearhead of all modern naval task forces." He made clear the act's carrier emphasis did not reduce the commitment to battleships.
A New York Times study of shipbuilding capabilities called the expansion program "problematical" unless proposed "radical changes in design" were dropped. The program was scheduled to take five to six years to complete.