House lawmakers and the Pentagon are set for showdown Wednesday over the purchase of attack submarines in the chamber’s annual defense appropriations bill.
As the bill heads to a final vote, members of the House Armed Services Committee are hoping to pass an amendment adding $1 billion to boost the number of the subs the Navy buys to counter growing threats from Russia and China.
But Deputy Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan opposes the amendment, arguing in a letter to lawmakers that setting the Navy up to buy three of the Virginia-class subs per year instead of two would siphon money from other needed shipbuilding programs.
A vote on the sub amendment was expected late Wednesday evening, along with passage of the fiscal 2019 appropriations bill. The $675 billion piece of legislation already includes nearly $23 billion to buy 12 Navy ships.
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., the ranking member on the House Armed Services seapower subcommittee, called the Pentagon’s concerns “speculative at best” and said without the additional purchase per year, the Navy’s sub fleet will shrink from 53 to 41 by 2028.
“This is to stop a very steep decline in the fleet size,” Courtney said. “Shanahan’s either inability or willful decision not to have a thorough discussion about where the Navy is heading here is really disappointing.”
At a rate of three purchases per year, the Navy fleet could reach 66 attack subs by the 2030s, he said. The subs are built by General Dynamics Electric Boat in Connecticut and Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia.
The bipartisan amendment is co-sponsored by Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., the chairman of the Armed Services subcommittee overseeing Navy shipbuilding, and supported by 20 other House lawmakers.
