Despite the federal budget standoff, Republican President Donald Trump and Rhode Island’s Democratic congressional leaders seem to agree on one important thing for the Ocean State: Funding now and in the future for the U.S. Navy’s next generation of nuclear-powered submarines remains a priority.
The sub program is spearheaded by General Dynamics Electric Boat at the company’s sites in North Kingstown and Groton, Conn.
Electric Boat President Jeff Geiger detailed expansion plans during an annual legislative briefing Jan. 14 in Warwick. A major player in Rhode Island’s economy, Electric Boat currently employs about 6,000 Rhode Island residents who work here and in Connecticut.
The company plans to grow its North Kingstown workforce this year from 4,500 to 5,000 people and then between 5,500 and 6,000 people by 2027 or 2028. Meanwhile, the company has been undergoing a youth movement. In 2013, baby boomers composed nearly half of its workforce. Today the largest group is millennials, who compose more than half its workforce.
After the speech, the company did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether Trump’s recent focus on finding funding for an expanded wall along the border with Mexico could threaten the sub program.
But Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Rep. James R. Langevin, D-R.I., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told Providence Business News they remain confident Electric Boat will get the federal money it needs and that the Trump administration won’t pose any funding threats.
Reed did say the president has not addressed removing annual caps on defense and nondefense spending for fiscal 2020, which starts in October. If the caps go into effect, the current $716 billion fiscal 2019 defense budget would drop to $645 billion in fiscal 2020, according to Reed.
Even so, the senator said, the submarine program is unlikely to be touched, as it has been the Navy’s longtime priority. The last time an administration challenged that, he recalled, was 1991 when former President George H.W. Bush threatened to cut the Seawolf sub program, also at North Kingstown and Groton.
“We’re in a strong position [with the sub program moving forward] given the appropriations we have,” Reed added.
Langevin also doesn’t see the current administration changing the funding picture for the sub program. Like former President Barack Obama, Trump has been “a strong supporter of the defense industry in Rhode Island,” he said. The president, he added, has supported continuing production of upgraded Virginia-class “fast-attack” subs and starting production of new Columbia-class subs, designed to replace Ohio-class “ballistic-missile” subs.
Electric Boat has been building Virginia-class subs in Rhode Island and Connecticut for years. The company plans to start construction here on Columbia-class subs later this year.
Scott Blake is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Blake@PBN.com.
