The Day: A Sub-Stantial Victory

Congress has finally done what it should have done years ago- provide the money to ramp up Virginia-class submarine production to two per year.

The just-approved $471 billion defense spending bill for 2008 includes $3.1 billion for attack submarines, including $588 million above the president's request to begin advance purchases that could lead to increased submarine production by 2010, rather than 2012 as currently planned. The spending bill still needs President Bush's signature, but a veto appears unlikely, despite the administration's opposition to speeding up submarine construction, now just one per year.

On Thursday the bill passed overwhelmingly in the House and on a voice vote in the Senate.
Increasing the production of the attack submarines is the right thing to do both from a defense standpoint and in the interest of keeping the expert work force at Electric Boat in Groton in place.

The U.S. will face a growing Chinese Navy in coming years. The slow pace of U.S. submarine construction threatened to drop force levels to 40 submarines or less sometime in the next decade, a level many military experts felt was insufficient to assure the nation's naval superiority.

And submarines have proved their merit in the war on terrorism. They have tremendous intelligence gathering ability and can furtively deliver special operation forces where needed.

With the increased funding EB will be able to maintain the 2,500 tradesmen and managers who build submarines. The industry risked losing that expertise if EB continued to build only one submarine every other year. Currently Newport News, Va. also delivers a submarine every other year to meet the current one-per-year program.

During the administration of President Clinton it was projected that by 2002 two Virginia-class submarines a year would be built, but that target has been continually pushed back as the Navy shifted money elsewhere, often to construction programs operating far less efficiently than submarine production. Submarines have been built on time and within budget. Adjusted for inflation, production costs are actually dropping.

Freshman Democrat Rep. Joe Courtney deserves credit for pushing the measure through the U.S. House. While Rep. Courtney presented a compelling argument, politics certainly played a role. The Democrats took control of the Congress in the November 2006 election. Rep. Courtney's 2nd District seat is absolutely one the party's leadership would like to hold on to. So when the freshman came asking, he found a sympathetic ear.

The Republican most likely to challenge Rep. Courtney in 2008 is Sean Sullivan, who happens to be the former commander of the Naval Submarine Base in Groton. By supporting Rep. Courtney in his quest to speed up EB submarine construction, congressional Democrats have neutralized what could have been among Mr. Sullivan's strongest issues.

The fight is not over. It never is. It costs about $2 billion to build an attack submarine, so the $588 million is a down payment of sorts. Support for submarine production will have to continue in future defense-spending bills.

But there is no question Thursday's vote was a significant victory for national security and for the future of southeastern Connecticut's economy.

The Day, Editorial, 11/10/07