With the exclusion of nearly $2 billion for a major naval effort from the bipartisan stopgap spending bill, lawmakers have effectively punted a decision on the Virginia-class submarine program.
The omission, lawmakers said Tuesday, gives defense hawks on the Hill an opening to dig into a Navy proposal that has been floated as a potential alternative: a framework that would alter how the service structures contracts with submarine builders to fund increased workers’ pay and meet other inflation-related expenses.
That $1.95 billion anomaly for the Virginia-class attack submarine program, included in the continuing resolution rejected by the House last week, was left out of the new bill text that would fund the government through Dec. 20 at current levels. The House is scheduled to vote on the bill Wednesday, and the Senate is expected to follow later in the day.
