The Day: Bush Signs Measure for Sub Funding

Millions in federal dollars will be available for the local submarine industry to build more Virginia-class submarines now that the president has signed a defense spending bill.


"We've turned the corner on the decline of America's submarine fleet," U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said Tuesday. “For over a decade, we've been limping along at one submarine a year despite the fact that the fleet size is declining at a faster pace than that. And this year, with the new Congress, we are taking action to stop that harmful trend.”

President Bush Tuesday morning signed into law the fiscal 2008 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill, which includes $588 million for the advanced procurement of nuclear reactor components and main propulsion components for an additional Virginia-class submarine prior to 2012.

Electric Boat President John P. Casey said, “I've been waiting to be ecstatic for a long time, and now I really am.

“This is the first critical and concrete evidence we've had that will allow us to begin building two submarines a year. We've been working on this for almost a decade, so it's very exciting news.”

Bush said the spending bill was not perfect and includes some unnecessary spending, but he signed it to “make sure our military has the full support of the federal government,” according to a transcript of a speech he made Tuesday in New Albany, Ind.

The Army's modernization program, called Future Combat Systems, and the missile-defense budget were the two primary areas that were cut, freeing up funding for other endeavors, including the Virginia-class production increase, Courtney said.

“The funding for a second submarine has been an extended battle for Connecticut, and today we declare victory,” Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said in a statement. “The additional submarine will fortify Connecticut jobs and will make the entire country safer.”

After hearing the news, John C. Markowicz, chairman of the Subase Realignment Coalition, said “hallelujah” and then added a “thank you” to Bush.

Currently, Electric Boat's Groton shipyard and Northrop Grumman Newport News in Virginia produce one $2.5 billion submarine a year, a production schedule the Navy had planned to step up to two submarines a year starting in fiscal 2012.

“As this year has worn on, my confidence has grown each step of the way,” Casey said. “When we started to see visits from senior people and various questions from staff members on key committees, I became increasingly optimistic that this would actually occur this year.”

U.S. Rep. John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who chairs the Appropriations defense subcommittee, visited EB in April. On Tuesday he said he “became convinced that we must increase our submarine production, and that we must start immediately.”

“I believe that producing two submarines per year is good for our nation, good for our Navy and good for our domestic industrial base,” Murtha said in a statement.

The Navy is now expected to revise its shipbuilding plan to take into account the $588 million.

EB will share the construction workload under a teaming agreement with Newport News, meaning that one submarine a year will be delivered from the Groton yard. Casey said this will allow the company to “stabilize employment and accurately predict manning levels.”

“An increase in submarine production is important for Connecticut's economy and it's important for the nation's military readiness,” Gov. M. Jodi Rell said in a statement.

Members of the state's congressional delegation have said they hope the work will begin at EB in 2010.

“The submarine is finally getting the credit it deserves as a critical component of our nation's defense,” Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said in a statement. “This bill is a vote of confidence in the workers of Connecticut, who make the equipment that our military depends on to keep our nation safe.”

The spending bill also includes $5 million secured by the state's delegation to begin initial conceptual-design work on the next-generation ballistic-missile submarine.

The Day, by Jennifer Grogan, 11/14/07