Opening Statement (As Preparede)
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Thank you, Chairman Kelly, and thank you to Chairman Ezell and Ranking Member Carbajal for the participation of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation for this hearing. Revitalizing our shipbuilding industrial base requires coordination across Congress to ensure success for all our sea services. And thank you to our witnesses—Acting Assistant Secretary Potter, Administrator Carmel, Dr. Labs, Ms. Oakley, and Admiral Campbell—for your testimony and being here today.
In today’s security landscape, our naval forces play a vital role in maintaining lasting peace. However, in every combatant command, the demand for Navy ships and submarines outstrips supply. The Iran War puts this issue on centerstage, with the decision to draw vessels from around the world to assist in the effort to re-open the Strait of Hormuz leaving other combatant commands with increased vulnerability. This hearing will focus on the problem-set this country faces as we continue to grow our shipbuilding industry and how Congress, the Navy, the Coast Guard, and industry can work together to ensure U.S. maritime prowess.
The Seapower subcommittee maintains its long-time bipartisan collaboration on confronting the challenges facing our domestic shipbuilding industry. Addressing these challenges is a continued cornerstone of the subcommittee’s work.
Over the last decade, the subcommittee put forth innovative authorities to provide the Navy and industry with ability to quickly adapt, move faster, and maintain flexibility. The Seapower subcommittee first included requirements for the Vessel Construction Manager, or VCM, model for the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel in the FY17 NDAA. This program has led to sustained on-time construction at the Philly Shipyard; an example of the model’s success in staying on schedule. Authorities for the VCM model continue to be implemented by this subcommittee, including for the Medium Landing Ship in the FY26 NDAA, which the Navy executed on earlier this year.
The construction programs for our submarine fleet continue their trajectory of improvement. The first-in-class for the new Columbia ballistic submarine, the USS District of Columbia, shifted delivery timeline to the left, moving from 2029 to Fall 2028. Reclaiming ground on delivery schedule is almost unheard of for Navy programs and this shift is a direct result of a whole-of-government and industry push to improve the domestic maritime industrial base, with well over $11 billion invested by Congress in the last 8 years. The Virginia-class program also continues the steady drumbeat of deliveries, with two deliveries in 2024, two in 2025, and two expected this year, as our nuclear shipyards continue to execute on improving Block V delivery timelines. These schedule improvements are achieved, and will continue to be, with new advanced procurement authorities, strategic outsourcing and modular construction, and expanding the supply chain for sole-source, critical components.
Workforce is the other half of the equation, and in Southeastern Connecticut, this momentum is a direct result of the education and training pipelines which have successfully attracted skilled workers and overcome the workforce losses caused by COVID. Wage improvement authorities enacted in FY25 are instrumental in increasing shipbuilder pay within Virginia-class contracts written before COVID and are critical in ensuring these jobs are competitive for both new and experienced workers. But we cannot stop here – it is critical that Congress continue to support metal trades education and training for young adults and students at every level, keeping meaningful pathways into the shipbuilding workforce open for the next generation. In New England, shipyards continue to ramp up hiring. In 2025, Electric Boat’s Groton and Quonset Point locations hired 3,350 new employees, with attrition also falling. In 2026, Electric Boat plans to hire 8,000 new workers. The momentum is real, and our job is to sustain it.
I have and will continue to work across the aisle to expand our shipbuilding capacity to face an increasingly competitive maritime threat environment. The Trump Administration publicly states that it seeks to restore America’s Maritime Dominance. I share this goal. The Department’s discretionary request for Shipbuilding and Conversion of $60 billion is significant. The publishing of the Maritime Action Plan is also a noteworthy and positive development. However, I remain concerned that this Administration’s actions jeopardize this strategy.
There is a misalignment with what the Navy says it needs to create stability within the industrial base and what we see come over in the President's budget request. Last year, Congress passed an additional $1.9 billion to submarine programs to address a shortfall in the FY26 budget request. This year, the budget only includes one Arleigh Burke destroyer, despite prior commitments from the Navy. Moreover, the Virginia-class Block VI and Columbia-class multiyear contracts continue to be delayed, despite all consensus that procurement stability will strengthen investment in facilities and workforce. Clearly, there are entities or bureaucrats in the Administration that are not all in on this goal. Further, the Administration’s actions such as waiving the Jones Act and imposing tariffs that drive up global material prices all weaken America’s ability to build ships quickly and cost-effectively.
Congress, the Navy, the Coast Guard, industry, and the Executive Branch must be aligned in our shared goal of growing and revitalizing the maritime industrial base if we are to maintain success. Bills like the SHIPS Act, introduced by my colleagues on this panel, lay a clear roadmap for how stakeholders across Government and industry should work together. I thank the witnesses for their testimony and look forward to continuing working with them. I yield back.