Conferees back submarine provision in Defense bill

In a move that might boost a vulnerable Connecticut Republican lawmaker's re-election bid, leading House and Senate defense authorization conferees have agreed to speed up Navy submarine procurement and inject needed money into the struggling shipbuilding industry.

The decision is a major victory for Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., who has been fighting for political survival in an eastern Connecticut district that hosts General Dynamics' Electric Boat business, among those hardest hit by the Navy's shrinking shipbuilding budgets.

To a lesser extent, the decision helps Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee, who lost his primary election last month and is seeking re-election as an independent. Like Simmons, Lieberman has been reminding voters of his record of promoting the state's submarine industry -- and has been counting on considerable support from Republicans.

According to aides, the so-called Big Four Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees agreed late Tuesday to authorize $400 million to allow production of two submarines a year in 2009 -- three years earlier than the Navy has planned.

The accelerated acquisition plan, added to the House version of the bill by Simmons and his close allies, House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Projection Forces Subcommittee Chairman Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., has been strongly opposed by the Navy. The service has argued that such a change would strain the service's budget and ultimately strip money from other needed programs.

The agreement on submarines helped conference leaders narrow the list of unresolved issues and keep on track to have conferees sign and file a conference report Thursday.

Only a handful of issues remained unresolved Wednesday evening, including a battle between Hunter and Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va., over a House provision that would allow military chaplains to pray in the name of Jesus Christ, several sources said.

Also Wednesday, governors and state National Guard leaders began to mobilize against a tentative conference decision to reject a Senate provision that would elevate the National Guard chief to four-star rank, said retired Brig. Gen. Stephen Koper, chief of the National Guard Association of the United States.

"I think we're making headway, although we won't know for sure until someone says 'uncle' -- provided we're so fortunate," said a congressional aide allied with the Guard. "We're going to keep the full-court press on."

Although aides cautioned that no conference decisions should be considered final, the agreement to keep intact the full House provision on submarines is not expected to change.

Simmons and other lawmakers have long questioned the Navy's plans, citing strategic concerns as well as the impact slow purchases of new submarines would have on the struggling U.S. submarine base. Electric Boat, for instance, has laid off more than 800 employees this year.

Now, Simmons must focus on the fiscal 2007 Defense appropriations conference, which might begin formally next week. Neither chamber appropriated funds to accelerate sub purchases, but House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., said during floor debate on the spending bill that he would "address the shortage of submarines in our Navy" in conference.

Meanwhile, Hunter privately told lawmakers Wednesday he would not budge on the chaplain language. Earlier this year, Hunter rejected a compromise offered by Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., during the committee's markup of the bill.

The provision backed by Hunter states that chaplains can pray "according to the dictates of the chaplain's own conscience, except as must be limited by military necessity, with any such limitation being imposed in the least restrictive manner feasible."

Israel and other opponents are concerned the provision would marginalize non-Christian service members and perhaps even open the door to coercive practices. "We should be consistent with the military guidelines to show tolerance, respect and sensitivity," said Israel, who has found himself in an unusual alliance with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The Pentagon issued a position paper stating the House language would "operate against" the military's "insistence on inclusive prayer at interfaith gatherings."