[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 141 (Wednesday, September 11, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H5161-H5162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        U.S. SHIPBUILDING UPDATE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, this coming Saturday, September 14, the 
USS New Jersey, the 23rd Virginia-class submarine, is going to be 
commissioned in northern New Jersey. It was delivered to the Navy 
earlier this year.
  Next to me is a photo of USS Iowa which is going to be the 24th 
Virginia-class submarine which is going to be delivered next month. 
This is a shot from the drydock in Groton, Connecticut.
  Early next year, the 25th submarine, the USS Massachusetts is going 
to be delivered to the Navy. Later in the year, the 26th submarine, USS 
Idaho is going to be delivered to the Navy. In the following year in 
2026, USS Arkansas and USS Utah are also going to be delivered.
  Again, these are really the most critical maritime vessels, 
particularly in the Indo-Pacific. We are here on China week. What is 
happening in these shipyards is the best rebalancing of deterrence in 
the Indo-Pacific region.
  It is happening at the same time that we are building the Columbia-
class submarines which are the ballistic submarines. Those submarines 
are actually 2\1/2\ times the size of the Virginia-class submarines. 
They are just massive vessels which, again, are critical because the 
hull life of the submarines they are replacing, the Ohio-class 
submarines, are over 40 years old. All this work, again, is something 
that is really driving a lot of economic activities certainly in 
southern New England but, frankly, all across the State.
  Again, Congress has had a big part to play in terms of funding. Just 
in the recent supplemental, the submarine industrial base funding is 
aimed at three different things: number one, workforce; number two, 
supply chain; and number three, facility.
  This is a picture of a supply chain company in Tolland, Connecticut, 
which is in my district in eastern Connecticut, Shelby Supply Company. 
The gentleman on the far right is Tim Briere. He is the owner of the 
company.
  Their hiring has grown three times over the last 3 years because of 
the metal fabrication work that they do that, again, are a part of the 
submarine industrial base.
  The woman on the far left in this picture is Amanda Dodd. She is 
somebody who grew up in Connecticut. She moved to Texas. She is a 
welder, and she moved back to Tolland, Connecticut, last year. She is 
part of the team there that is contributing to this production process 
which took a hit during COVID. There was a slippage in

[[Page H5162]]

terms of the production cadence and the schedule, but now they are 
recovering it. Congress has had a big part to play in terms of giving 
the funding for programs like those that Shelby Supply is part of.
  In August, I visited Divers Cove, American Systems in Norwich, 
SEACORP in Groton, and Collins and Jewell in Bozrah. Again, these are 
all supply chain companies which are part of this enterprise.
  Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I would just say that when we look at the 
horizon as far as the amount of work we are talking about here, it is 
at least 20 years, and we have to go younger and sooner in terms of 
training up people in terms of the metal trade skills and engineering 
skills that are going to be essential if we are going to succeed in 
this shipbuilding plan.
  This is a picture of a welding lab where last Friday we had a ribbon 
cutting. This is a small public high school up in the northeast corner 
of the State of Connecticut, Tourtellotte High School. It is a regular 
public high school. This is a comprehensive high school, not a trade 
school. Because of the submarine industrial base funding which passed 
in this Chamber earlier this year, they, again, are now installing more 
welding booths so that the students are going to be able to take 
advantage of this opportunity.

  The welding class used to be eight kids. Now it is going to be 50. 
These are kids who when they graduate from high school are going to be 
eligible to get their security badge, go into the shipyard, and be part 
of this production process.
  Interestingly, talking to Superintendent Melinda Smith and some of 
the teachers at the high school, because of this program, students who 
otherwise would really not be that connected in terms of the work that 
was going on there because they really were not college bound, 
attendance is now going up. It is because these kids understand that 
this program which they really like, which is about an hour and a half 
a day, if they don't show up for school, then they are going to get 
removed from the program.
  It is a win-win situation in terms of increasing educational 
proficiency in terms of all subjects, but particularly in giving people 
a skill which is a life skill that is going to allow them to succeed in 
the future.
  Again, this is now happening not just in trade schools, which are 
wonderful, the career and technical schools which now have waiting 
lists for kids who want to get involved, but it is also happening in 
nontrade public high schools. Westbrook High School in Connecticut is 
also going to be a part of this program, and that is how we succeed as 
a nation to recapitalize our Navy fleet.

                          ____________________