Joe Courtney

Mr. Chairman, Procedure · 16 wordsas ranking member of the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, I yield myself 2\1/4\ minutes.Procedure Mr. Chairman, Claims · 17 wordsI rise to endorse many provisions of the Seapower and Projections Forces mark of the 2027 NDAA, Thanks · 15 wordswhich our subcommittee crafted under the able leadership of my good friend, Chairman Trent Kelly.Thanks Claims · 150 wordsA whole range of much-needed Navy warships and auxiliary platforms are authorized in this bill using multiyear contracting, which will save money for the taxpayer and provide certainty to our shipbuilding industrial base to invest and grow. The bill authorizes $15 billion for the Pentagon’s number one acquisition priority, the Columbia-class ballistic submarine program.¹ It also provides $12.5 billion for Virginia-class attack submarines and full funding for shipyard wage improvements and workforce pipelines which are vital to hiring and retention.² Adding more Virginia subs will grow our undersea fleet and keep our commitment to Pillar One of the AUKUS security agreement to sell three in-service subs to the Australian Navy in the 2030s.⁷ Multiyear contracts for destroyers and oilers are also included, as well as investments in missiles and hypersonics from unmanned surface vessels. Ukraine has demonstrated how effective unmanned systems are in their defense against Russia’s Black Sea invasion, Unearned certaintyReasoning · 11 wordsand we must embrace that trend and expand our unmanned capabilities.Vague promise Procedure · 8 wordsThere are areas of disagreement in this bill.Procedure Claims · 34 wordsParticularly, its approval of the administration’s request for $1 billion for obsolete battleships without a detailed design.³ I would note, last month the Senate Armed Services Committee wisely voted to reject this wasteful request.⁴ Reasoning · 27 wordsThat money should, instead, be spent for the Marine Corps’ request for new landing ships, which is missing from both this bill and the new reconciliation bill. Mr. Chair, Claims · 41 wordsthe NDAA has passed for 65 consecutive years because of disciplined avoidance of irrelevant hyperpartisan amendments.⁶ Unfortunately, the NDAA rule passed earlier today merging the NDAA with a completely nongermane voter suppression bill, the SAVE America Act, violates that long tradition.⁵ The ask · 28 wordsIf Republican leadership is serious about passing a 66th NDAA with bipartisan support, the SAVE America Act merger should be stripped from the bill or later in conference. Mr. Chairman, Promise · 19 wordsI look forward to achieving that outcome, if not today, then later in the NDAA negotiations with the Senate. Mr. Chairman, Procedure · 7 wordsI reserve the balance of my time.Procedure