Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. Chairman, I do not doubt for a second the sincerity of the chairman and the ranking member and their support for the Ohio replacement program.

This chart, which the Navy produced, showing the 30-year shipbuilding plan, if we fully fund the Ohio class program, as well as a 300-ship Navy, demonstrates exactly the problem that confronts us today.

It shows, again, a red line across, which shows the modern era of shipbuilding at about $15 billion a year; and, with the yellow portion of the chart, it shows how, for 13 years, Congress, starting in the 2020s, is going to be asked to raise unprecedented amounts of money for the shipbuilding account.

The fact of the matter is this is an asset that is not just the Navy's; it is the country's. Under New START, 70 percent of the nuclear triad will be borne by the Navy through its submarine program, far greater than in the past.

The Air Force and their long-range bombers and the Army, with their ground-based systems, are not going to be bearing the same burden as a result of the Ohio class' planned burden under New START.

We have an opportunity to do something sensible, which is based in clear precedent, as the gentleman from Virginia indicated.

The sealift fund was funded out of the shipbuilding account. The missile-based system was funded on a separate account because these are national assets that provided assistance and national security across the board for the Pentagon.

Support this amendment if you support a strong shipbuilding account and protect the shipbuilding industrial base of this country.

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