Courtney Statement on Biden Budget’s Continued Submarine Industrial Base Investment as AUKUS Announcement Nears

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), Ranking Member of the House Seapower Subcommittee and the second highest ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, released a statement in response to President Joe Biden’s FY 2024 defense budget request. In particular, the budget summary places a heavy emphasis on continuing historic investments in improving the submarine production industrial base.  

“Last year, President Biden requested and Congress approved $751 million in bold new investments in workforce development, supply chain support, facility expansion, and other critical needs for our submarine industrial base,” Courtney said. “The budget summary released today makes clear that this effort will continue in the President’s FY24 budget. This is welcome news for our submarine shipbuilders in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia, and the nation-wide supply chain that support them. It is especially critical, as well, as we approach Monday’s announcement on the next steps for the first pillar of the AUKUS national security agreement. Indeed, the summary explicitly designated the AUKUS initiative as an enterprise that the budget will support.”

The FY 23 NDAA and final omnibus spending bill approved President Biden’s unprecedented investment in the submarine industrial base, including $541 million for submarine supplier development, workforce development, shipyard infrastructure, and strategic outsourcing specifically for the Columbia-class submarine program, and $207 million to support submarine workforce development initiatives.

According to the summary of the FY24 president’s budget released today, submarine related highlights include:

• Optimizing US Naval Shipbuilding and Modernization—The Budget proposes executable and responsible investments in the U.S. Navy fleet. The Budget also continues the recapitalization of the Nation’s strategic ballistic missile submarine fleet while investing in the submarine industrial base. In addition, the Budget makes meaningful investments in improving the lethality and survivability of the fleet, particularly improving undersea superiority. 
• Strengthening the US Supply Chain and Industrial Base—The Budget invests in key technologies and sectors of the U.S. industrial base such as microelectronics, submarine construction, munitions production, and biomanufacturing. 
• Powering the Nuclear Navy (Department of Energy)—DOE’s Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program ensures safe and reliable operation of reactor plants in nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers. The Budget prioritizes investments in research and development to maintain American dominance while continuing to support improvements to the Naval Nuclear Laboratory infrastructure. The Budget also funds the strong technical and engineering foundation that supports the President’s trilateral security partnership—Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—which provides Australia with a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability.

Additional details on the defense and Navy budget requests are expected in the coming days and weeks.

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