Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, during a full House Armed Services Committee hearing on nuclear deterrence Thursday said he hopes the Defense Department will clearly articulate whether the Congressionally established Sea-Based Deterrence Fund is the appropriate method to fund the Ohio-class Replacement (OR). “What we’ve done is create a mechanism within the budget process, again, giving the incremental authority, all the tools that we know worked with Virginia and carriers and I hope at some point, the powers that be are going to kind of spit it out here in terms of whether or not they’re willing to use this fund, which obviously the huge vote in Congress shows that we’re ready and in fact, we’re moving forward,” he said. “We hope that the Administration’s going to help us solve this problem.”
Courtney was responding to Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work, who pledged Pentagon funding for the ballistic missile submarine program “no matter what.” Work said DoD appreciates the “theory” behind the fund, and believes that “something like that” would help pay for the SSBNs, which are expected to spike in cost to $7 billion for Fiscal Year 2021. The Navy annually spends about $15-$16 billion in total shipbuilding. While Work signaled possible Pentagon support for funding OR beyond a fixed shipbuilding topline, he did not say how preferable of a funding option DoD believes the Sea-Based Deterrence Fund itself to be. “It’s one thing saying that we would eat it within a fixed topline,” Work said. “That would cause enormous disruption to our program not just in the Navy but across all of our services. So we’re anxious to work with you, sir, and we need to do it.”
The House passed its version of the FY 2016 defense spending bill earlier this month after members voted to eliminate a prohibition on transferring funds to the Sea-Based Deterrence Fund created last year by Congress. HASC’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2016 recommended moving $1.39 billion from Navy accounts to the fund, but House appropriators in their defense spending bill tried to reverse course, including language stating that “none of the funds provided in this or any other Act may be transferred to the National Sea Based Deterrence Fund.” Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), Chairman of the seapower subcommittee, and Courtney offered an amendment striking the prohibition. It passed overwhelmingly in a 321-111 vote.