[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 12, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H4234-H4235]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1215
              CELEBRATING THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF AUKUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Madam Speaker, Friday, September 15, will mark the 
second anniversary of AUKUS, a historic new security agreement between 
the Governments of the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom 
that will integrate the most sophisticated technologies amongst the 
three countries, including quantum computing, undersea warfare, 
hypersonics, and cyber, to name just a few, in order

[[Page H4235]]

to create a new level of joint deterrence by these longtime allies to 
address a security environment that has been deteriorating for the last 
two decades in the Indo-Pacific region.
  Its goal is simple: to preserve an open and free Indo-Pacific and a 
rules-based order at sea, in the air, and in the cyber domain. It is 
not a policy of aggression. It is, rather, one of maintaining the 
integrity and sovereignty of all nations in the region to achieve peace 
and prosperity.
  Madam Speaker, this is a big undertaking for the country of 
Australia. The centerpiece is recapitalizing their submarine fleet, 
which today are diesel, electric submarines that have to surface to 
recharge their batteries and replace them with conventionally armed 
nuclear-powered submarines.
  Over the last 2 years, our three Navies' leadership have been meeting 
to try to come up with a plan to execute this undertaking. Last March, 
in San Diego, California, at Naval Base Point Loma, the three heads of 
government--President Biden, Prime Minister Albanese from Australia, 
and Prime Minister Sunak--came together and stacked hands to make a 
commitment, and particularly our country, to do something that we have 
not done since 1958, which is to share the crown jewels of our national 
security technology; namely, nuclear propulsion.
  This program, which again was announced last March, calls for the 
U.S. to sell three Virginia-class attack submarines in the early 2030s, 
again, as a way of allowing Australia to replace their fleet with a 
more capable set of vessels that have longer reach and more capacity in 
terms of executing deterrence. For the U.S. Navy and for our industrial 
base here in the U.S., it will call for a much greater capacity for 
submarine construction than exists today.
  Madam Speaker, I represent Groton, Connecticut, which is the home of 
General Dynamics Electric Boat, the general contractor for the 
Virginia-class submarine program and also for the Columbia-class 
program, which today are both working hard to address our own Navy's 
needs. With AUKUS, this is going to add another level of production 
targets that again will strain and call for more capacity.
  The Biden administration last year saw this coming. They have laid 
out a $2.4 billion plan over the next 5 years to increase the 
workforce, supply chain, and facility to achieve this goal. We saw it 
happening in real time during my break in August.
  If you go back 3 years ago, the shipyard's workforce was about 17,000 
people. As of last Friday, it is 21,700 strong. The investments in 
supply chains that are going all over the country to 48 different 
States is standing up to meet this demand signal so that this alliance, 
which, again, is about preserving peace and protecting freedom, will 
succeed.
  The development of the workforce is very exciting to see. This last 
spring, trade school graduates and comprehensive high school graduates 
were going right into the shipyard. The U.S. Department of Labor 
workforce investment training program, the manufacturing pipeline, 
reached 4,000 graduates in the metal trades, electricians, welders, 
machinists.
  This is a level of job training and investment that we have not seen 
for a long time. The 2023 hiring goal for Electric Boat is the largest 
in the 120-year history of the company--5,750 people. As I said, last 
week they hit the 21,700 mark, and they will be on target to complete 
that goal by the end of December.
  It is going to require more commitment. We now have people in the 
Senate who are talking about increasing the Biden budget for investment 
in the industrial base. Again, this will provide benefit not just for 
southeastern Connecticut or southern New England, but for States all 
across the country: manufacturers and small businesses that provide the 
parts and pieces that go into these amazing vessels, the amazing 
technology that makes these vessels go.
  For the three countries of Australia, the U.K., and the U.S., this 
Friday will be a proud moment in terms of advancing a goal which all of 
the neighbors in the region--smaller countries and larger countries--
are supporting, which, again, is to push back against some of the 
encroachment and coercive behavior that now exists in the Indo-Pacific 
region.

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