A bipartisan group of lawmakers is accusing the Navy of withholding information from Congress about funding strategies and cost increases for nuclear-powered submarines, according to draft report language accompanying the final defense policy bill.
The House and Senate over the weekend unveiled a deal for the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act that claims the Navy worked out a deal with defense contractors to address cost growth on submarines without notifying lawmakers and the White House.
“We are concerned with the lack of transparency that has occurred between the Navy and Congress over the last 18 months,” reads the joint explanatory statement accompanying the legislation.
“The Navy negotiated a funding strategy with industry that would have addressed cost growth, future cost to complete, workforce wage increases and infrastructure investments at both shipyards. The Navy did this in isolation and failed to not only inform Congress but also the Office of Management and Budget.”
The statement language is a reference to the Shipyard Accountability and Workforce Support proposal, also known as SAWS, that the Navy put forward to address cost growth on two Block V Virginia-class submarines purchased in Fiscal Year 2024 and future multi-year submarine deals.
Under SAWS, the Navy could pull money forward for submarines not yet under contract so shipbuilders General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding could increase workers’ wages. For example, the Navy could establish a funding pool for workers like crane operators and supervisors working throughout the shipyard, the pay for pipe fitters and welders could be attached to each hull.
But according to the explanatory statement, the White House Office of Management and Budget did not continue with the proposal since it wasn’t informed about the plan, and instead proposed a $5 to $6 billion injection of funding to address the submarine workforce shortfalls.
“At no point during the normal budgeting and legislative process did the Navy inform Congress that there was large cost growth on the fiscal year 2024 submarines and the one fiscal year 2025 submarine being requested,” lawmakers wrote in the statement. “Unfortunately, the lack of communication regarding program challenges and potential solutions has left Congress with few options to address this situation and likely none that will rectify it going forward.”
Congress also accused the Navy of threatening the people who brief lawmakers.
“Denial of requests for information and veiled threats of reprisals against briefers to Congress who may provide requested information creates a dangerous precedent that is out of line [with] the checks and balances inherent to the branches of government of the United States,” the statement reads.
A spokesperson for Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro did not respond to a request for comment when asked for one by USNI News.
The Navy and shipbuilders have struggled to reach a deal on 17 planned submarines, including the two Block V Virginia-class boats purchased with FY 2024 funds and multi-year procurement contracts for five Build II Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines and ten Block VI Virginia-class boats. The cost increase for the two FY 2024 boats – Baltimore SSN-812 and Atlanta SSN-813 – is largely due to increased labor wages.
The FY 2025 authorization bill approves $32.7 billion for the Navy’s shipbuilding account to buy six battleforce ships. It authorizes the service to buy one Virginia-class attack boat and provides incremental funding authority to buy a second boat. The legislation also authorizes the Navy to buy one San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, one Medium Landing Ship, and three Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers.
The Navy’s FY 2025 budget submission sought to buy one Virginia-class attack submarine, two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, one Constellation-class frigate, one San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock and one Medium Landing Ship.
The Navy’s FY 2025 proposal was a departure from the service’s commitment to buy two Virginia-class attack boats per year. The budget submission sought funding for one attack boat and one submarine’s worth of advanced procurement funding to keep the suppliers healthy while allowing the Navy to acknowledge that the industrial base isn’t building to the two attack boats per year cadence. The final version of the FY 2025 NDAA appears to allow the Navy to use this strategy. The legislation authorizes $3.97 billion for the Virginia program, an increase of $357 million on top of the Navy’s initial request, and also approves the $3.72 billion the Navy sought in advanced procurement funding for the Virginia program.
As for the Constellation-class frigate, the FY 2025 NDAA would fence funding for the program until the Secretary of Defense ensures “that 95 percent of functional design drawings have been approved by the designated technical authority,” according to the joint explanatory statement. The bill authorizes $50 million for the program, slashing most of the $1.17 billion the Navy sought in the budget submission.
“The provision would also require the Comptroller General of the United States to assess the Secretary of Defense’s compliance with the requirements and evaluate the completeness of functional design,” the statement reads.
The move comes after the Navy earlier this year announced that the lead ship in the Constellation-class program could be up to three years late. Service officials at the time cited design maturation issues and workforce challenges as reasons for the potential delay.
On the personnel side, the legislation approves a 14.5 percent pay increase for junior service members up through the E-4 rank and a 4.5 percent increase for the rest of the force.
The legislation authorizes a total of $895 billion for national defense, which includes budget activities outside the purview of the House and Senate Armed Services committees. The bill authorizes $850 billion for the Department of Defense, $33.3 billion for the Department of Energy and $500 million for defense-related activities, according to a summary of the bill.
