As Congress Prepares Budget, Sub Suppliers Descend on Capitol to Secure Funding
SUBMARINE
The Day
Katie Koch
Boston University Washington News Service
3/5/09
WASHINGTON—It was hard to miss the victorious mood at Thursday’s Submarine Industrial Base Council breakfast, where submarine builders and suppliers from across the country mingled with members of Congress to kick off a day of visits to members’ offices on Capitol Hill.
Last year’s record-breaking $14 billion contract for eight new Virginia-class submarines, to be built in part by Groton’s Electric Boat, was cause for celebration and record-breaking turnout at the council’s 17th annual meeting, organizers said.
“The feeling in the room was definitely much more upbeat,” said Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, who spoke to the nearly 200 attendees.
But there wasn’t much time to rest on their laurels. With President Obama’s proposed budget still vague on defense spending—and with more-immediate priorities looming in the midst of the economic crisis—industry representatives came to Washington prepared to push for two new priorities: increased funds for research and development and a program to design a replacement for the aging Ohio-class Trident submarine.
“Even though awards have been made…the new administration has put a hold on everything,” said the council’s co-chairman, Dan DePompei of DRS Power Technology in Fitchburg, Mass. “Block 3 funding [for the Virginia-class subs] is pretty safe, but R&D could be questioned.”
Obama’s budget outline would set the Defense Department’s basic budget, which excludes war costs, at $533.7 billion—a 4 percent increase over this year that barely keeps pace with inflation. By contrast, George W. Bush increased the department’s budget by 74 percent from 2001 to 2008.
After an era of heightened spending and ambitious defense projects, council members said, they must now market their services as long-term investments in the country’s economic prosperity and national security.
“There is an economic impact across the country for what we do, and we need to reinforce that message with Congress,” Electric Boat president John P. Casey said in an interview.
He said Congress and the Navy need to start thinking now about replacing the Ohio-class submarines, the first of which is set to be retired in 2029.
“We’re not early, we’re not late, but we need to start now,” Casey said.
Courtney said an Ohio-class redesign program would bring more entry-level design jobs to Electric Boat. In the past year, the company has added about 200 engineers and 400 designers to its workforce, many of them younger employees whose ranks had thinned at Electric Boat over the years.
“It’s really been exciting to see, on the design side, younger workers going through the doors in the morning,” Courtney said in an interview. “Trying to hold onto our young people is a profoundly significant issue in our state.”
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., stressed the urgency of keeping research-and-development funding levels high to keep pace with emerging naval powers like China.
“If you have any doubts about whether this is Cold War technology, just ask other nations that are eager for this technology,” Dodd said after speaking to the council. “It would be awfully shortsighted to find out the whole world was right and we were wrong.”
Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., the senior Republican on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, assured the council audience that Navy procurement programs would not face the chopping block when Congress starts debating the budget in April.
“The Appropriations Committee will be supporting these programs, and we’re looking forward to that Trident submarine,” Young said to applause.
Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., cautioned that as the Navy falls behind in the number of submarines in its fleet, the submarine industry must work even harder to ensure that Congress will pay for the “complex engineering and precise craftsmanship” necessary for an updated fleet.
“We can’t take it for granted that other members of Congress are as passionate and knowledgeable as we are about submarines,” said Langevin, co-chairman of the Congressional Submarine Caucus.
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