The Navy’s latest shipbuilding plan is falling flat with lawmakers and analysts as the Biden administration’s defense budget calls for a reduction in the fleet and the ability to put steel on targets even as China’s naval and Pacific presence grows.

The repackaged shipbuilding plan submitted to Congress departs from Trump-era plans that called for more than 500 new ships by 2045. The ambitious goal submitted by former President Donald Trump’s last defense secretary, Mark Esper, lacked any actual funding, but hawks contended it would facilitate the kind of strategy viewed as necessary to counter Beijing’s large investment in shipbuilding. Lawmakers have recently warned Pentagon officials they are worried about what they view as Biden’s lack of a long-term naval strategy.