Ranking Member Courtney Highlights New Australian Investment to Help the U.S. Build Submarines
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, in a House Armed Services Committee hearing, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), Ranking Member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, highlighted a newly announced $500 million USD payment made by Australian government to the U.S. Department of Defense for the U.S. submarine industrial base.
This new payment follows a $500 million payment made in February. Australian government has now delivered $1 billion to the U.S. Department of Defense as part of a total $3 billion committed investment as part of AUKUS to help the U.S. build submarines. In 2024, Republicans and Democrats in Congress authorized the U.S. to accept Australia’s $3 billion investment into the U.S. submarine industrial base.
“There's a review going on, which is totally fair game with the new administration, but I have to tell you, we wrote a letter, a bipartisan letter, supporting AUKUS from this Committee. The Select Committee on China, a couple of days ago, did exactly the same thing, Republican and Democrat supporting AUKUS,” Courtney said during the hearing.
Last month, Rep. Courtney (D-CT), Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Chair Emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS), Chairman of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, sent a bipartisan letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth expressing their strong support for the AUKUS agreement. Rep. Courtney and Rep. McCaul serve as Co-Chairs of the bipartisan Friends of Australia Caucus.
Last week, bipartisan leaders of the House Select Committee on the China, Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), also sent a letter to Secretary Hegseth expressing strong support for the AUKUS partnership and calling for unwavering commitment amid Beijing’s growing military aggression.
Click here to view and download Rep. Courtney’s remarks.
Full Clip Transcript
“This morning, the Australian government announced the second down payment in the AUKUS commitment that they made, $800 million [Australian dollars]. That takes the tally up to $1.6 billion [Australian dollars] that Australia is going to be investing in our industrial base.
“There's a review going on, which is totally fair game with the new administration, but I have to tell you, we wrote a letter, a bipartisan letter, supporting AUKUS from this Committee. The Select Committee on China, a couple of days ago, did exactly the same thing, Republican and Democrat supporting AUKUS.
“We're not getting a lot of visibility in terms of this process. And I would just reiterate… you want to talk about joint production of unmanned systems with Anduril in Australia, you know, some of the, again, investment that they just announced into our country. We had to pass a law to allow them to send us money, which shows the depth of their commitment to that process. Hopefully people are listening that there's high interest and intent to make it work. If there's improvements that the review is going to put forward, I think we would embrace them. But to sort of stop it or retard it would be a huge mistake.”
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