Sullivan Successfully Forces SECNAV to Comply with Law, Meet 31-Amphib Minimum in Shipbuilding Plan

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), welcomed a new U.S. Navy 30-year shipbuilding plan this week that finally complies with a provision he secured in the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requiring the Navy to maintain a minimum of 31 amphibious vessels, 10 of which must be assault ships. In April 2023, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro produced a 30-year shipbuilding plan that ignored the FY 2023 NDAA 31 amphibious warship minimum.

In response, Sen. Sullivan secured a provision in the FY 2024 NDAA to withhold 50 percent of the Navy's operations and maintenance budget should the Secretary of the Navy again fail to comply with the 31 amphibious warship requirement.

"For the past year, the Secretary of the Navy has been violating federal law, failing to provide a shipbuilding plan that ever gets to the 31 amphibs mandated by Congress," said Sen. Sullivan. "Secretary Del Toro's flagrant defiance of Congress not only threatened to set a dangerous precedent, it also put the lives of American citizens and service members at greater risk. Without these vessels, the Navy and Marine Corps are less capable and equipped to respond to the serious national security challenges our country faces, or to rescue Americans stranded in hostile territory in a crisis. This is why, working with U.S. Marine Corps leadership, I fought relentlessly on this issue. I want to thank my Democratic and Republican SASC colleagues for helping me guide the Secretary of the Navy to ensure our Navy and Marine Corps are properly resourced. I will not hesitate to hold President Biden's political Pentagon appointees' feet to the fire should they again thumb their nose at the law or undermine America's vital national security interests."

Timeline:

• On December 23, 2022, the FY 2023 NDAA was signed into law, including a Sullivan-authored provision requiring the Navy to maintain a minimum of 31 amphibious warships to support the U.S. Marine Corps. The provision was unanimously supported by Democrats and Republicans on SASC.
• In April 2023, Sen. Sullivan blasted Secretary Del Toro in a widely-viewed SASC hearing for releasing a 30-year shipbuilding plan that ignored the FY 2023 NDAA 31 amphibious ship minimum.
• On April 24, 2023, Sen. Sullivan, in an interview on Fox News Channel, raised alarm over the Biden administration's political appointees in the Department of Defense (DOD) prioritizing their climate agenda over military readiness and lethality, including Secretary Del Toro's failure on the 31 amphibious ship requirement.
• On May 2, 2023, Sen. Sullivan pressed Admiral Lisa Franchetti, vice chief of naval operations, on the Navy's violation of the statutory minimum of 31 amphibious warships.
• On May 3, 2023, Sen. Sullivan spoke on the Senate floor about the Navy's violation of the statutory minimum of 31 amphibious warships.
• On June 13, 2023, Sen. Sullivan and 13 of his SASC colleagues sent a letter to Secretary Del Toro demanding he fulfill his commitment to provide an updated 30-year shipbuilding plan to the committee that abides by the statutory requirement for the Navy to maintain a minimum of 31 amphibious warships.
• On June 22, 2023, SASC advanced the FY 2024 NDAA, including a Sullivan-authored provision that fences 50 percent of the Navy's operations and maintenance funding for administration and services if the Secretary of the Navy does not submit a 30-year shipbuilding plan that meets the congressionally-mandated minimum of 31 amphibious ships within 60 days of enactment.
• On December 22, 2023, the FY 2024 NDAA was signed into law.

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