SPF Hearing: Update on Navy Programs and Capabilities for Seapower and Projection Forces
House Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces
2025-06-04
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Source: Congress.gov
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Unknown
The subcommittee will come to order. I ask unanimous consent that the chair be authorized to declare a recess at any time without objection so ordered. Thank you everyone for being here today to discuss the Department of the Navy's posture for the upcoming fiscal year. I understand that we will be getting more budget details from the Department of the Navy in the weeks to come and this subcommittee looks forward to seeing how the budget decisions for fiscal year 2026 measure up to our current threat environment. This subcommittee along with the full armed services committee has long been concerned about the net growth for our naval fleet. We simply cannot divest more ships than we produce in a fiscal year, sacrificing capability and a critical window for deterrence. For example, we must return to the rate of two Virginia class submarines per year and continue to procure at least two destroyers per year. Challenges with shipbuilding can at least be partially blamed upon the mixed signals we have sent to the shipbuilding industrial base for years. The resulting workforce issues and the diminished output from shipyards are just some of the most glaring examples of the harm done. We must send consistent signals about our procurement for critical programs and I look forward to discussing how we can do that as well as how we can get some struggling programs like the frigate back on track. We could discuss shipbuilding for the entire hearing, but we cannot elect the many aviation and munitions programs that are needed for peer competition. I look forward to discussing the plans for critical platforms like the P-8 and the KC-130Js, as well as critical munitions like the SM-6 and heavyweight torpedoes that underpin our deterrent posture. We must continue to invest in critical platforms and critical capabilities if we expect to further President Trump's peace through strength agenda. I'm encouraged by the prospects of additional money for shipbuilding, aviation platforms, and critical munitions in the ongoing budget reconciliation process. However, this is only the beginning of a national effort to strengthen our defense industrial base.
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Unknown
It is only through consistent investment in our military and its systems and platforms that we can deliver on the promise of peace through strength. I now recognize my good friend, ranking member Joe Courtney, for his opening statement. Thank you, Chairman Kelly, and thank you to all the witnesses today.
All three of our witnesses are accomplished professionals who bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to their portfolios, and we really appreciate your service. As our subcommittee meets today on June 4th, we are less than four months away from the start of the next fiscal year, and the administration has still failed to send Congress an actual budget with the necessary details to fund specific accounts and a five-year defense plan, which is required by law. A 30-year shipbuilding plan, which the law also mandates, should be submitted at the same time as the budget submissions. None of that has actually been transmitted to the Hill so far. This budget submission and we did some research at the staff level is actually as of today is the latest in history and by all what we're hearing is it's probably going to be the last week of June that we actually finally get the real budget document. As if this lateness isn't bad enough, the budget appendix, which was released on Friday, provided only top lines for accounts with no funding line breakdown. It did include a request for $20.8 billion for shipbuilding and conversion of the Navy, the SCN account, which on its face is a drastic reduction from last year's SCN account when It was finally enacted at the end of the process, appropriated $36.6 billion. The math is pretty simple. The SCN account, as submitted, is $15.7 billion lower. We're certainly being told that the reconciliation bill, which still has not been enacted, will backfill this delta since it included $33 billion for Navy shipbuilding, although I think it's important to note that in that $33 billion were a number of items that really are not SCN items. All positive, but they really don't count towards ship hulls So but the real question is how can we assume that the reconciliation bill clearly? Will backfill because it states clearly that those funds can be obligated over a four-year period through September 30th 2029
So at this point, again, we still don't really have the final list that's going to be in the reconciliation bill process. Senator Wicker a couple of days ago released his own version of the reconciliation bill, and it looks different than what came out of the House. So, you know, between that fluidity and the fact that we still have not gotten an itemization in the budget that should be submitted by now, it's still guesswork for everybody, Congress, industry, and the Navy, in terms of just what is the you know, base that we're going to be sort of working off of. And as I said, you know, time's wasting. We've got a very short period of time before the start of the next fiscal year. In the joint testimony that was submitted today, the witnesses correctly stated that the Navy must continue to provide a reliable demand signal to the industrial base to broaden interest, strengthen commitment and encourage investment at all levels. And that's something which our subcommittee believes wholeheartedly, which is that procurement stability is one of the keys to really boosting investment and workforce facility technology that we need to really get shipbuilding up to the proper level. This panel has a long history of using its authorizing power to create procurement stability with multi-year contracts, robust funding, and timely decision making, which, again, Chairman Kelly's leadership has definitely fostered those goals. But we are facing a big challenge this year to achieve those goals. And I know we'll work together, everybody on the committee, to work towards a sensible mark. Our witnesses today may not be able to fill in all the blanks that we're faced with, but I look forward to their insights and their perspective on what the Navy and Marine Corps require. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Thank you. Mr. Courtney, we have three witnesses today.
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Lieutenant General Eric Austin
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