Courtney: Maintain funding for submarine construction

As Congress debates new spending levels for 2018, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and his colleagues want to ensure increased funding for submarine construction is maintained in a final spending package.

Courtney, whose district includes submarine builder Electric Boat, and his co-chairmen on the Congressional Submarine Caucus, are asking congressional appropriators to match funding levels for submarine construction already authorized under a defense policy bill signed late last year by President Donald Trump.

“Fast-attack submarines remain one of the most effective and sought after tools in our nation’s arsenal,” the legislators and more than 30 of their colleagues wrote in a letter to U.S. Reps. Kay Granger and Peter Visclosky, a Democrat representing Indiana’s first district, heads of the defense appropriations subcommittee.

The bill authorizes $700 billion in military spending, including nearly $8 billion for submarine programs, in fiscal year 2018, but the actual money has to be appropriated in a separate bill. It also authorizes the Navy to build up to 13 submarines when it purchases the next group of submarines, known as blocks. Recent blocks have included 10 submarines.

The letter notes that the Navy is retiring Los Angeles-class attack submarines at a faster rate than Virginia-class attack submarines are being built amid high demand by the Navy.

“With demand for undersea capabilities growing and the shortfall in the fleet approaching fast, it is clear that Congress must ensure that production meets the needs of our combatant commanders,” it states.