SECNAV Del Toro Briefs Congress Regarding Continuing Resolution

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WASHINGTON - Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro attended a closed briefing at the Capitol with the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, chaired by Hon. Ken Calvert (CA-41) with Ranking Member Rep. Betty McCollum (MN-4), to discuss a $1.95 billion request to fully fund submarines authorized in Fiscal Year 24, Sept. 19, 2024.

After recognizing the thousands of Sailors, Marines, civilians, and their families who are either stationed or deployed all over the world, Secretary Del Toro recognized the importance of submarine acquisitions amidst the challenges of fiscal constraints.

"Our submarines truly are the apex predators of the sea, both technically and quantitatively superior to any submarines fielded by our adversaries-principally, our pacing threat, the People's Republic of China, and our acute threat, Russia," said Del Toro. "Submarines provide our Navy and our nation a critical, asymmetric advantage-which is why they have and will remain our number one acquisition priority."

The Secretary has been advocating for improvements to the maritime industrial base, and to increase funding to ensure the Navy meets its acquisition objectives.

To demonstrate fiscal responsibility, the Navy has stood up an independent Naval Cost Agency to improve cost estimations and created a Maritime Industrial Base program to manage the funding supporting the industrial base.

The Navy is also working to improve ship design processes, is investing in modern facilities on the shipyards, and is working alongside industry to offload large-scale work from prime shipbuilders to other yards. The Navy has also implemented additive manufacturing to reduce the time it takes to build critical components and parts and ultimately alleviate pressure on the Navy's supply base.

"I am working across the cabinet, industry, academia, and state and local government-as well as with members of Congress-to restore the essential maritime capabilities of our Nation. Over the past three years, I have visited every shipyard, met with every shipyard CEO and President, as well as the workers actually building our ships," said Secretary Del Toro. "As Secretary of the Navy, I will remain unsatisfied until both commercial and naval shipbuilding is restored."

The Navy's Fiscal Year 2025 budget request included significant investments in recruiting, quality of life, and the ships, submarines, and aircraft the Department of the Navy requires to enhance maritime dominance.

"We must build one Columbia-Class submarine, and two Virginia-Class submarines a year by 2028," said Del Toro. "By 2032, this number must grow to one Columbia-Class submarine and 2.33 Virginia-Class submarines a year."

Further fiscal constraints could also jeopardize aspects of the Australia, United Kingdom, and United States (AUKUS) partnership.

House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense is a standing subcommittee within the United States House Committee on Appropriations.

Read the letter to the subcommittee issued Sept. 12, 2024, here.