{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://courtney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/courtney-electric-boat-local-officials-submarine-industry-leaders", "Courtney, Electric Boat, Local Officials, & Submarine Industry Leaders Celebrate Block VI Virginia-class & Build II Columbia-class Construction Contract Awards", "2026-07-31", "2026", "2026-07", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Joe Courtney", "C001069", "courtney.house.gov", "courtney", "https://courtney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "NORWICH, CT \u2013 Yesterday, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), Ranking Member of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, Mark Rayha, President of General Dynamics-Electric Boat, Peter Baker, President of the Metal Trades Council of New London County, AFL-CIO, and Chris Jewell, President of Collins & Jewell and Chairman of the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board\u2019s Board of Directors, joined Jill Rusk, Mayor of the City of Groton, and a large crowd of state and local officials, educators, and leaders in Connecticut\u2019s submarine industrial base to discuss the newly announced $76.6 billion construction contract awards to Electric Boat for nine Block VI Virginia-class submarines and five Build II Columbia-class submarines.\n\nCongress authorized the Virginia-class Block VI contract in 2023 in the FY24 NDAA and the Columbia-class Build II contract in 2025 in the FY26 NDAA. The legislative language in both bills originated in the Seapower subcommittee\u2019s marks.\n\nCongressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), Ranking Member of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee\n\n\u201cThis is not a normal or incremental contract award announcement that\u2019s coming out of the Pentagon or the Navy. The record size and \u2018buying in bulk\u2019 structure of this contract provides the much needed long-horizon demand signal for the submarine industry. This legally enforceable binding contract raises the level of the federal government\u2019s commitment to the Virginia and Columbia programs, and gives shipyards, supply chain companies, and labor contract negotiators the confidence they need to ensure all the pieces come together to ramp up production,\u201d said Rep. Courtney. \u201cAt the end of the day, this is about people. If you go back to when Block V was negotiated in 2019, the size of the workforce at Electric Boat was 17,000. Today, in 2026, it\u2019s over 27,000, and if you look at the submarine tonnage output projections, we can\u2019t stop there. It\u2019s going to take a state, region, and nationwide effort by industry and educators to continue the revitalization of our submarine workforce. Everyone\u2019s presence here today with their excitement, passion, and confidence shows that we\u2019re all going to work together as a state to successfully execute these contract awards.\u201d\n\nMark Rayha, President of General Dynamics-Electric Boat\n\n\u201cThese contracts reflect the trust that Electric Boat has earned from the Trump administration, the Congress and the Navy,\u201d said Mark Rayha. \u201cThey create stability, opportunity and further solidify the future for EB while providing economic security for thousands of households across Connecticut and Rhode Island. And they allow us to continue playing the critical role we\u2019ve played for generations and take great pride in\u2014delivering freedom.\u201d\n\nPeter Baker, President of the Metal Trades Council of New London County, AFL-CIO\n\n\u201cThese really are exciting times at Electric Boat and shipbuilding. Not only is there record growth in ship construction, hiring and training, there are jobs for the building and construction trades to upgrade the shipyard infrastructure. Millions of dollars will be pumped into the local economy, but this does not negate the need for affordable housing, day care, elder care, and public transportation,\u201d said Peter Baker. \u201cAdditionally, the hundreds of manufacturers and thousands of employees nationally who produce parts for these ships will be able to stabilize and grow. Most importantly, we will be able to provide to the Navy and to the navies of our allies, the most sophisticated deterrent and defenses needed to protect our nations. The work will not be easy, but it is achievable if we continue to work in partnership. Much of this would not have been possible without the work of Congressman Courtney and his staff, and we owe him a debt of gratitude.\u201d\n\nChris Jewell, President of Collins & Jewell and Chairman of the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board\u2019s Board of Directors\n\n\u201cOne of the challenges that a lot of suppliers have in the submarine supply chain is the ebbs and flows of work, so we are really confident that these contract awards will help level out those hills and valleys and give us a really good demand signal,\u201d said Chris Jewell. \u201cA lot of businesses are on the cusp of expansion, Collins & Jewell being one of them. Not only does this give me a lot of confidence to move forward with that expansion, but I\u2019m also sure it will give my bankers a lot of confidence as well. The supply chain in eastern Connecticut is really strong. We all work together with one voice to grow our workforce and get people that will hit the floor running right out of the gate better. That\u2019s what the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board does through the training programs that they offer. I really do think that these contract awards are going to move the needle for the region, and I encourage everyone to stay focused on the objective moving forward: giving the U.S. Navy the best submarines in the world.\u201d\n\nTo read Congressman Courtney\u2019s full statement on the Navy\u2019s official execution of the Block VI Virginia-class and Build II Columbia-class construction contract awards, click here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-04T07:35:49Z", "2026-08-04T07:37:27Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://courtney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/courtney-electric-boat-local-officials-submarine-industry-leaders"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4395620673894882, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}