National Defense Authorization Act

Floor Speech

Mr. WITTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my concern about the United States Navy's future plan to home port a nuclear powered aircraft carrier aboard Naval Station Mayport. I, along with other members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation, have continued to question the duplication of resources to move the home port of a nuclear aircraft carrier, when current resources in Norfolk, Virginia, meet these needs.

This nation is in very challenging and uncharted waters with respect to the Department of Defense budget. Every effort must be made to ensure efficient and thoughtful planning, procurement, and budgeting is conducted to support our national security strategy for the 21st century. While the budget may be getting smaller, the request for power projection and forward presence around the globe to protect our interests and ensure a peaceful future is only growing. Sequestration and the very real possibility of cutting $1 billion out of the Department of Defense budget over the next ten years puts our carrier force in jeopardy.

With these major defense cuts coming we are forced to address the proposal by the United States Navy to move a nuclear powered aircraft carrier to Naval Station Mayport. While strategic dispersal of forces is important, what is more important is that we maintain a capable level of forces to disperse.

An iconic symbol of American freedom domestically and abroad and a potential item for the sequestration chopping block, the aircraft carrier could face detrimental cuts to her fleet and capability because of a flawed defense strategy driven by looming budget cuts. The Navy has 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in her fleet. While six remain deployed across the world, supporting operations, others are in rotation, utilized for training or remain in the shipyard for necessary maintenance.

On September 23, 2011, I wrote the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jonathan Greenert arguing that at a time when the nation's historic fiscal challenges will require drastic cuts in federal spending, it is fiscally irresponsible and strategically unnecessary to build expensive and redundant nuclear-support infrastructure for CVN homeporting when there are more cost-effective alternatives to sustain Mayport's future as an operational base.

Admiral Greenert's response to the letter indicated concerns raised about the movement of an aircraft carrier to Mayport would be included in the Navy's strategic calculus. He stated that ``the size of fiscal adjustments compels us to take a comprehensive strategic review, examining every program element, including the funding required to homeport a CVN in Mayport''.

The conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act, H.R. 1540, addressed the issue of military construction funding for a road improvement project at Mayport. It states, ``The conferees determined that the Massey Avenue Corridor Improvements Project had merit to support requirements at the Naval Station Mayport, Florida, whether or not a nuclear powered aircraft carrier was home ported there.''

The proposed home port shift of an aircraft carrier, especially in this challenging budget environment, is unaffordable and unnecessary and I encourage this Congress and the United States Navy to carefully consider a better utilization of taxpayer resources to fund our men and women in uniform.

Source