On the recordJune 10, 2015
I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, the national sea-based deterrence fund is critical to the future of our national security. It provides space outside the shipbuilding fund for the most survivable piece of our national deterrence, a bill that last came due in the 1980s in the Reagan defense buildup. Mr. Chairman, these boats are absolutely essential. This is not just a Navy issue, as Secretary of Defense Connor has said. This is a national priority. The deterrence fund allows us to treat it accordingly and avoid pressuring the Navy out of badly needed investments in other ships and capabilities. Unless Congress acts, these boats will consume half of the projected shipbuilding funding for a decade, causing crippling shortages that would echo in our fleet for decades after. We and many of our colleagues have worked on a bipartisan basis to rise to this challenge, and the result is this sea-based deterrence fund. Earlier this year, this body spoke loudly and clearly in overwhelming support of the fund and its purposes. I urge my colleagues to reaffirm that position with this amendment.
