Outraged

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) took time on the House floor yesterday to rap Defense Secretary Robert Gates for omitting a new 30-year shipbuilding plan with the submission of the fiscal year 2010 defense budget request earlier this year.

In a statement issued today, Forbes said Gates was "ignoring" the law, which mandates that the Pentagon present a shipbuilding plan and an aviation plan, complete with certifications that the envisioned budget is sufficient to implement them, along with the budget request roll-out.

Forbes is ranking member of the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee. Earlier this year, he sponsored a resolution giving the Defense Department until Sept. 15 to submit the documents.

But defense officials let the deadline pass, and lawmakers got -- as Forbes demonstrated with the aid of an empty flipchart during his speech yesterday -- nothing.

DOD officials have said the plans are on hold until Quadrennial Defense Review deliberations are further along.

Last week, Pentagon leaders announced plans for a ship-based missile defense capability in Europe, which could also factor into shipbuilding arithmetics.