U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) gives a thumbs-up as he makes his way to a closed-door briefing on Ukraine at the U.S. Capitol on March 02, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The new head of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s seapower subcommittee today made clear he expects his committee to support the Marines reaching 31 amphibious warships.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., also stated that he has yet to hear any real defense of the decision not to buy more amphibs in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2024 budget request, and indicated it is his belief that the controversial decision came from the Office of the Secretary of Defense and not from Navy leadership.
“I don’t want to speak for people other than me, but I can read the room. I think the discussions have convinced the significant majority of the committee [that 31 amphibs are] the number, and unless or until somebody gives us a compelling reason to suggest that that’s not the case, or a compelling reason suggests that we need to pause and study this yet again, I think we’re on for 31,” Kaine told reporters in a briefing today.
RELATED: Both citing cost, leaders of Navy, Marines dig in on amphib ship fight
Saying he was “still a little mystified by the reticence of the President’s budget with respect to meeting our 31 amphib requirement,” Kaine several times emphasized that the Navy and Marines successfully spent the last year making the case that 31 amphibs is the requirement for the service and providing a unified front on that issue. “Somebody is going to have to do a pretty amazing job to convince me otherwise at this point, once they’ve been so consistent on that for a significant period of time,” he said.
But lately the Navy and Marines appear appear to be less unified about what Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro called a “strategic pause” in the program. While Del Toro and Chief Naval Officer Adm. Michael Gilday have both publicly defended the budget decision, members of the Marine leadership have been open about their frustrations, with one key Marine terming it “unacceptable.” (The Marines Corps asked Congress for $1.7 billion for an amphibious ship in its unfunded priorities list.)
Asked about the public disagreement between the Marines and Navy leadership, Kaine said he had not seen any signs that the Navy has backed off the 31 number and signaled that he was neither surprised nor upset at the public messaging from the Marines. He also pointed to those comments as more proof that the pause was the result of budget movements at the OSD level.
“I don’t know exactly where the mismatch is, but I think it’s above the Navy because I think [the] Navy [and the] Marines are completely on board on this,” Kaine said, later adding “I think that’s a message that’s coming out of OSD or the [White House Office of Management and Budget]. I’m not hearing that when I talk to the Navy.”
“I view that as that may be coming from upstairs, but nobody has yet explained it to me, so until somebody can explain it to me and convince me I think we’re all systems go for 31,” Kaine said.
Kaine’s comments echo those of his House counterpart. Speaking on March 9, Rep. Trent Kelly, R-Miss., the new chairman of the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee, stated, “My commitment to the future of these platforms is unwavering, regardless of the Navy’s intent to strategically pause purchasing.” Obviously, having the two chairmen of the seapower authorizing committees on the same page in support of the amphib requirement is good news for those angered by the “strategic pause.”
Also of note, Kaine casually mentioned that he is “likely” to receive the Navy’s updated 30-year shipbuilding plan “in the next day or so.” That document is often delivered later than required to members of Congress, and the previous version was controversial for presenting a choose-your-own-option document to members — something Del Toro said to expect again this year.
