Courtney Lays Down the Hammer on National Security Supplemental
“Vote against supplemental is a vote against AUKUS”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Rep. Joe Courtney made it clear again, again, and again to Speaker Johnson that his refusal to allow a vote on the national security supplemental is a vote against AUKUS and our allies in their time of need.
The bill, which passed out of the Senate on Monday morning with the support of 22 Republicans, includes support for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, as well as an often “overlooked” $3.3 billion investment in the U.S. submarine industrial base (SIB) to increase shipyard capacity and availability of attack submarines.
On the House Floor Wednesday, Courtney highlighted the impact of the SIB investment on the AUKUS mission and implored Speaker Johnson to follow the Senate’s bipartisan lead.
This supplemental “provides historic investments in the U.S. submarine industrial base to dramatically increase our capacity in support of our own fleet requirements and the generational trilateral AUKUS security agreement with Australia and the United Kingdom.
“I implore Speaker Johnson to bring the bill to the floor. There are over 300 votes–we know that today–to get this package through and help our friends who are desperately looking to America for global and national security leadership,” Courtney said.
The national security supplemental comes just shortly after Congress passed the bipartisan Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act in December, which cleared legal blockers to allow the three nations to fulfil the Optimal Pathway announced in March 2023.
Courtney noted in this week’s Foreign Affairs Committee hearing that, following December’s historic victory for AUKUS, all eyes are on Congress to see if lawmakers continue moving full steam ahead on the mission.
“The ink is barely dry on the AUKUS legislation that we just passed, but obviously we have more work to do. As the Co-Chair of the Friends of Australia Caucus and AUKUS Working Group, this investment that is in the supplemental is being watched like a hawk in terms if we are really serious in following through on what I think is the smartest move we have made in terms of a deteriorating security environment in the Indo-Pacific,” Courtney said.
The Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security at the U.S. Department of State, Bonnie Jenkins, emphatically agreed with Courtney that this supplemental is really a “linchpin” in ensuring the mission succeeds.
“Australia is all in and we are all in—but we have to keep showing we are all in…. This [supplemental] is not just money, this is policy, this is priorities, this is what the U.S. cares about… so we need to pass the supplemental… that shows that the U.S. wants to continue to be a leader,” the Under Secretary said.
Shoring up the United States’ contracted defense industrial base is a sure way to do so, Courtney alluded to during a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
“If we are truly going to meet the moment, we really have to expand investment” in the industrial base, Courtney told Dr. LaPlante, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.
“Manufacturing in this country is not what it was. We are at 3.2 percent of our GDP for defense budget. When Eisenhower gave his famous speech about the military industrial complex we were at 10 or 12 percent,” LaPlante explained. “This is going to take a systemic push across the country to really recognize we need to rebuild manufacturing in this country which includes the industrial base.”
The national security supplemental’s $3.3 billion investment serves as a good step in closing that gap by targeting workforce development efforts, stabilizing the nationwide supply chain, upgrading shipyard infrastructure, and maturing advanced technology opportunities like additive manufacturing. It also includes key maintenance and sustainment initiatives to increase the availability of operational, in-service U.S. attack submarines by addressing spare part availabilities and military construction projects at our public shipyards.
“This investment in our submarine industrial base is good for workers, the U.S. economy, and our nation’s ability to outpace China. The Speaker's refusal to consider it is a dangerous vote against our military readiness, the AUKUS security agreement, and our allies abroad,” Courtney said.