{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.wicker.senate.gov/2023/9/wicker-urges-navy-nominee-to-keep-focus-on-china-shipbuilding-aukus", "Wicker Urges Navy Nominee to Keep Focus on China, Shipbuilding, AUKUS", "2023-09-14", "2023", "2023-09", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Roger F. Wicker", "W000437", "www.wicker.senate.gov", "wicker", "https://www.wicker.senate.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today led his colleagues in a full committee hearing examining the nomination of Admiral Lisa M. Franchetti, USN, to become the next Chief of Naval Operations.\n\nIn his remarks, Wicker observed that China\u2019s naval buildup and the United States\u2019 shrinking navy leave our national defense as unprepared as it was in 1941.\n\n\u201cWhile China builds its maritime strength, American command of the sea is increasingly at risk \u2026This crisis is nothing short of historic,\u201d Wicker said.?\u201cWe are as unprepared for a strategic surprise from China as our Pacific fleet was for a Japanese attack on the eve of Pearl Harbor in 1941. We need to act.\u201d\n\nSpecifically, Wicker outlined the need for substantial investment in the defense industrial base. Wicker has been a strong advocate for improving submarine construction and maintenance availabilities, especially in light of the Australia-United Kingdom-U.S. (AUKUS) agreement to share U.S. submarine technology. Wicker also raised ongoing challenges with surface ship repairs and amphibious warship procurement.\n\n\u201cWe should be producing somewhere between 2.3 to 2.5 attack submarines a year to fulfill our own requirements as we implement AUKUS,\u201d Wicker said. \u201cInstead, we are down to building 1.2 attack submarines per year, as compared to the required 2.3 to 2.5. The path back toward 2 per year is based on hopes and wishes.\u201d?\n\nIn his exchange with Admiral Franchetti, Wicker discussed the need to meet the navy\u2019s submarine requirements while also fulfilling prospective AUKUS obligations. The Admiral agreed that the Navy is currently far from meeting minimum submarine requirements. Wicker also pressed the nominee for a commitment to advocate for block-buys of amphibious warships, an acquisition strategy that would save considerable amounts of taxpayer money, which she failed to provide.\n\nClick here to view Senator Wicker\u2019s exchange with Admiral Franchetti. Read Senator Wicker\u2019s remarks as delivered below.\n\nThank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And thank you Admiral, for being here. Certainly, a welcome to your family \u2013 it\u2019s good they were able to be with us today.\n\nYour nomination comes at a pivotal moment for our Navy.?The National Defense Strategy rightly identifies China as our pacing threat, as the Chair just said. But as China grows its fleet to historic levels, our naval forces continue to shrink, and our readiness levels decline.\n\nAs the Chairman just said, when you add the numbers up, it amounts to our fleet going in to the wrong direction. A recent memo from the Office of Naval Intelligence office suggests that China\u2019s shipbuilding capacity is more than 230 times larger than our own \u2013 I can hardly believe I\u2019m speaking these words \u2013 230 times larger in shipbuilding capacity. These are not comforting thoughts when we consider the growing number of general and flag officers who warn that China could be capable of invading Taiwan in the next two to four years.\n\nWhile China builds its maritime strength, American command of the sea is increasingly at risk \u2013 and you and I have discussed this in our private meeting. So far, we have not made progress toward the statutory goal of 355-ships that I proposed and that was signed into law six years ago. Of course, we now know that we are being told by experts at the Department of Defense \u2013 both civilian and flag officers \u2013 that that number is more than 355 ships.\n\nAdditionally, surface ship maintenance delays and cost overruns are so routine that they are factored into our planning timetables. There are even some ships \u2013 like the USS Vicksburg \u2013 that have been in repair and modernization for seven years. It is as if the Navy never really means to get the Vicksburg back in action.?Chairman Reed is exactly right about the competing demands that we face. I am particularly pleased that he mentioned attack submarines and the need for Littoral Combat Ships.\n\nThe story of our attack submarines is this:?a recent press report revealed that over a third of the Navy\u2019s attack submarines are unavailable as they enter repair cycles\u2014that\u2019s a third of our attack submarines. We should be producing somewhere between 2.3 to 2.5 attack submarines a year to fulfill our own requirements as we implement AUKUS. Instead, we are down to building 1.2 attack submarines per year, as compared to the required 2.3 to 2.5. The path back toward 2 per year is based on hopes and wishes.\n\nThis crisis is nothing short of historic.?We are as unprepared for a strategic surprise from China as our Pacific fleet was for a Japanese attack on the eve of Pearl Harbor in 1941. We need to act.\n\nAnd let me say this, Admiral: I cherish our Constitution and our longstanding principle that goes back to George Washington, our uniformed military \u2013 which the Chairman and I were both a part of \u2013 are answerable to civilian elected leadership in this country, and that\u2019s as it should be. It\u2019s one of the shining examples. But also, the Constitution gives the power of the purse to the Congress. And so we sit here, under the Constitution, able to make decisions about purchasing power. The power of the purse does not rest in the Office of Management and Budget in the White House. There\u2019s a competing interest there, and so I take this opportunity of your hearing today, to remind my colleagues also that it is we who have the responsibility to find the money you need to get you the Navy that will protect us and keep us at peace.\n\nAdmiral Franchetti, you served as Vice Chief of Naval Operations and as commander of the Sixth Fleet. These experiences make you deeply qualified and familiar with the problems our Navy faces. You also know just how damaging these delays are. In addition to the questions the Chair mentioned, I would appreciate your thoughts today on a way forward \u2013 especially for our submarines following the AUKUS agreement \u2013 as well as your commitment to work with this committee on the vital issue of ship maintenance.\n\nA second challenge our Navy faces is fielding new technical solutions at what former Secretary of Defense Mattis called the \u201cspeed of relevance,\u201d in other words within a time window speedily enough that keeps us ahead of our adversaries. Industry and naval research have made major breakthroughs in unmanned warfare, additive manufacturing, and maritime mines in only the past few years. If we have any hope of shoring up our eroding deterrence in the Western Pacific, it will take the rapid integration of these capabilities at scale in the next two years or so. Again, Admiral Franchetti, I would like to hear from you how the Navy plans to achieve this integration at the speed of relevance.\n\nThe Navy has always been our first line of defense, keeping the peace by deterring war and protecting the national interest. This goes as far back as our founding.\n\nAdmiral Franchetti, I know that you agree with these sentiments, and I am hopeful you will keep them mind as you stand for this important position. I look forward to your testimony and hearing more about your vision for our Navy\u2019s future.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:37:48Z"]], "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://www.wicker.senate.gov/2023/9/wicker-urges-navy-nominee-to-keep-focus-on-china-shipbuilding-aukus"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1474811471998692, "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"}