Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee, hammered the Biden administration for its slim Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) defense spending request, highlighted the importance of advancing American naval capabilities, and underscored the evolving threat of China.
Opening Statement:
An excerpt of the Senator’s opening statement is below and the full transcript may be found here. For audio and video, click the corresponding links.
“I am very concerned that President Biden’s defense budget request is inadequate. The Department of the Navy’s fiscal year 2024 budget only seeks 4.5 percent growth. Because this budget does not keep up with inflation, it is, in fact, a cut. At the same time, China’s military budget will see substantial growth above inflation. I am hopeful we can come together again to provide the Department with real budget growth to fund critical modernization, readiness, and personnel shortfalls.
“The administration’s inadequate budget is reflected in the fact the Navy’s fleet size is set to decline to 293 ships and stagnate over the next five years. This decrease in the number of ships alarms me because China is moving to increase the size of its fleet at a breakneck pace. Many have called the next five years the period of maximum danger in the Indo-Pacific region. A brief overview of China’s growing capabilities makes that danger clear.
“China has truly unprecedented shipbuilding capacity, capturing 47 percent of the global market for commercial ships, and boasts more than 4,500 merchant ships. In 2022—during a peacetime—China’s shipyards built 38 million tons of shipping. That is more than double what the United States built at the peak of the emergency shipbuilding program in World War II. In terms of warships, the Department of Defense expects that China’s fleet will grow to 400 by 2025 and 440 by 2030. By contrast, under this budget our Navy will not even reach 300 ships by 2030.”
Witness Questioning:
Following his opening remarks, Senator Cramer questioned Vice Admiral Scott Conn, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfighting Requirements and Capabilities, about ship maintenance and readiness.
“Are the service and undersea fleet readiness rates where you think they should be, first of all, and, second of all, is the Navy deferring ship maintenance to keep ships in operation?” asked Senator Cramer.
“Are we where we want to be? No. Do we know what we need to do? Yes,” responded Vice Admiral Conn. “For the undersea domain, there’s over $2 billion dedicated as part of this PB24 dedicated to improving the maintenance of our submarine assets, decreasing the idle time for the ships that we already own. It’s our most asymmetric advantage we have in the undersea domain, but they have no advantage if they’re tied to the pier.”
Senator Cramer also discussed Marine Expeditionary Unit deployment with Lieutenant General Karsten Heckl, U.S. Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration.
To download video of the Senator’s line of questioning, click here. For audio, click here.