U.S. Representative Trent Kelly (R-MS), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, delivered the following opening statement at the subcommittee markup for H.R. 2670 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024. The Subcommittee's mark is available here.
Rep. Kelly's remarks as prepared for delivery:
Good morning. I would like to welcome the Members here this morning to consider the Seapower and Projection Forces Mark.
I support today's mark. It represents months of work and input from every Member of this Subcommittee. I want to thank everyone for their engagement and for the bipartisan nature in which it was accomplished.
It is critical that we continue to grow the Navy's capabilities. The President's budget, however, proposed to build 9 ships in FY24, and only 7 in 2025. The administration also chose to divest 8 ships before the end of their expected service life.
This is not the right signal to send to China as they continue their trajectory of building a 500-ship fleet by 2030.
We must also be able to project and sustain power far from our shores. Yet we continue to rely on 45-year-old ships and have failed to prioritize inter and intra-theatre logistics and support vessels.
In my view, the President's budget makes a critical misstep with the suggestion to press pause on the Marine's Amphibious ship program. Let me be clear, we must maintain a minimum of 31 amphibious ships so that the Marines can meet their operational needs to project strength both in peace time and in conflict.
I also support this mark because it sets a better course for U.S. sea power by building on our naval strength, countering China, supporting our industrial base and providing for important oversight. It fully supports key future enablers including the Columbia class ballistic missile submarine and the B-21 bomber programs which are critical efforts to modernize two legs of the nuclear triad.
This mark also continues oversight of the KC-46A tanker, the extensive modernization of the B-52 bomber and the continued recapitalization of the KC-135 aircraft.
Finally, I'd like to reiterate that we should be expanding our naval fleet rather than allowing it to contract. The recent 30-year shipbuilding indicates that the Administration is taking the wrong approach by proposing to shrink the fleet. Over the past several hearings we have heard testimony to support reversing the trend in fleet size with innovative new platforms like unmanned vessels, the new frigate, and others – but that will only happen with a focused, prioritized and strong defense budget. I am confident this year's bill will make real progress. We need to use all of the levers available to us as we seek to maintain our competitive edge over China.
In closing, I want to thank Ranking Member Courtney for his friendship, leadership and expertise. I could ask for no better partner on our Seapower and Projection forces team. I am glad to continue to work with him to solve our nation's most difficult challenges as we move towards Full Committee Markup, the Floor and during conference. I also want to thank Ian, Kyle, Kelly, Phil, and Ethan on the committee staff for all their hard work the past few months preparing this mark.
With that, I yield to my friend and Ranking Member, Mr. Courtney.
