House Republicans are attempting to reassure members of the shipbuilding industrial base that robust investment will continue -- when it comes to submarine production at least -- amid uncertainty over the Trump administration's defense spending priorities.
“The investment that Congress makes in your businesses ought to be strong and will be strong. There's a strong commitment to that, even though we're dealing with some other financial issues,” House Appropriations Committee member Nick Lalota (R-NY) told a group of submarine builders and suppliers today.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Submarine Industrial Base Council -- an industry group representing submarine suppliers -- Lalota acknowledged questions surrounding efforts to reduce and reorient federal spending, including the House’s passage of a budget plan aiming to slash federal spending by $2 trillion over the next decade and a Pentagon plan to cut and re-invest billions of defense dollars in the upcoming fiscal year.
“I was very pleased to see Secretary Hegseth’s remarks just a couple of days [ago] that he’s going to continue -- while he right-sizes mostly the headquarters elements of DOD -- investing in the things that help protect our interests. You guys are key to that. We know that,” Lalota said.
Last week, the Pentagon announced plans to cut $50 billion, or about 8%, from its unreleased fiscal year 2026 spending request and re-invest this money in new priorities like Golden Dome for America and border security. The Pentagon will also look to cut and shift 8% each year across the five-year future years defense program.
A senior defense official provided a list of 17 areas exempt from these cuts, including the Virginia-class submarine program. Absent from this list is the Columbia-class program, which has consistently ranked as the Navy’s top acquisition priority.
The list also exempts “executable funding for surface ships,” according to the official, though it is not immediately clear what programs or vessels this exemption applies to.
At the SIBC event today, House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee Chairman Trent Kelly (R-MS) pledged to send a “strong demand signal” to submarine makers. Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA), House Armed Service Committee vice chairman and a longstanding submarine advocate, also affirmed the continued need for the purchase of two Virginia boats per year.
While House members projected support for submarine funding, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) indicated aircraft carriers could end up on the chopping block.
“I love carriers just as much as anything else and anyone else . . . but we’ve got to have airplanes and ships that are going to make it to theater, and I'm not sure they’re going to,” Perry said, reasoning that hypersonic anti-ship missiles and other high-tech weapons could threaten the carrier’s mission.
“Here's the one thing we know works. This works every day, all day,” Perry said of submarines. “And so, if it comes time to make choices about what's going to work and where we're going to make an investment, because we have to, because the world's a dangerous place, this is where we [have] got to go.”
House Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert (R-CA) previously called for spending reviews that could lead to funding cuts for aircraft carriers, also citing potential limitations to the carriers’ use case along with the multibillion-dollar price tag associated with building and equipping the vessels.
Navy officials subsequently pushed back, arguing for the carriers’ continued relevance given their use in the Red Sea.