WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA), ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, during the Subcommittee's hearing on the Navy's FY21 budget request for Seapower and Projection Forces:
"I want to thank Chairman Courtney for yielding and thank our three witnesses for testifying today.
"The administration has been consistent with their drive to expand the capacity of the United States Navy. President Trump foresaw the great power competition and called for a 355-ship Navy. Unfortunately, his vision and foresight have not been replicated in the budget requests. This relentless drive on behalf of legacy curmudgeons to hold back implementation of the national defense strategy will continue to delay required reform. It is apparent that we need to move toward a maritime strategy that will require both long range strike and naval power. Yet, the budget request continues to emphasize COIN operations and legacy force structure allocations. We have to do better.
"Of all of our nation’s defense procurement programs, shipbuilding is by far, the longest, most complex of any acquisition program. Shipbuilding requires years of planning, billions of dollars to capitalize the shipyards, and lengthy periods of ship construction. Yet there are some in the administration who continue to believe that the industrial base is a faucet that can be shut on and shut off. Some believe that in the short term we can add shipyards to expand our ship construction capacity. The reality is starkly different. I believe that this shipbuilding budget request is an attempt to begin to turn the faucet down. We are actually on the precipice of putting a number of shipyards out of business. And unfortunately, the administration’s overestimation of the capacity and elasticity of the industrial base will have negative repercussions for a very long time.
"Central to these concerns is the budget request to order a single submarine. We are on an inextricable path to reduce our attack submarine force structure from 51 to 42 submarines. The combatant commanders are begging for more undersea strike capacity. Yet, this budget requests seeks to perpetuate this egregious deficit.
"The administration compounds this shipbuilding deficit by an accelerated ship retirement schedule that includes 4 Littoral Combat Ships, 4 cruisers and 3 amphibious ships. Some of these ships have only been in commissioned service for six years! The math on these retirements, compounded with an anemic shipbuilding request, points us in the wrong direction.
"Furthermore, the administration continues to ignore the plight of our nation’s sealift. The Navy may point to the budget request to procure two used ships in fiscal year 2021. Unfortunately, the administration also endorsed a legislative proposal that would virtually eliminate the any new ship construction effort for these sealift vessels. General Franks, the then 7th Corps Commander during Desert Storm understood the value of these forces when he was quoted as simply saying “Forget logistics, you lose.” In sealift, the only change from last year is that our sealift force has aged another year, can only accomplish 40 percent of required tasking and the administration is prepared to accelerate the decline of this essential logistics force.
"As to the Marine Corps, I am actually delighted with the vision that the Commandant has placed before our nation. I continue to be impressed with this change and look forward to more actionable items to implement a long-needed turn to the future of military conflict. My hope is that the Marine Corps is timely in implementing these needed changes.
"Again, I appreciate the Chairman for having this important hearing and I yield back the balance of my time."
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