WASHINGTON — The nation needs more ships, not less.
That message was delivered loud and clear on Capitol Hill Tuesday, as lawmakers rejected a Pentagon proposal to cut the Navy and Marine Corps fleet.
"Let me be clear: we should be maintaining a minimum of 31 amphibious ships," said Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Mississippi).
Kelly chairs the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, which supports funding an amphibious transport dock -- which had not been included in the Pentagon's FY24 request -- and including provisions to prevent the Navy from retiring three amphibious vessels and two cruisers.
"It is critical that we continue to grow the Navy's capabilities," he said. "The President's budget, however, proposed to build nine ships in 2024 and only seven in 2025. The Administration also sought to divest eight ships before the end of their service life. This is not the right signal to send China, as they continue their trajectory to build a 500-ship fleet by 2030."
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) mark was unanimously approved by the panel. It also supports shipyard investment and recapitalization efforts, something that should be seen as good news by the Hampton Roads shipbuilding and ship repair industries.
"This proposal coupled with unprecedented workforce and supplier development investments sends a definite message to our nation's industrial base in the wake of the pandemic that we are fully committed to restore the two-per-year level of the Virginia program and beyond," said Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Connecticut).
Mark-up work typically takes place in May but was delayed by a month because of the debt limit fight among lawmakers.
The full House Armed Services Committee and its counterpart in the Senate are scheduled to finalize the subcommittee "marks" next week, sending them to each chamber's full membership for final votes later this summer.