From the Office of Joseph Courtney
Protecting Social Security
Over 140,000 eastern Connecticut seniors, veterans, disabled workers, and survivors rely on Social Security, an insurance program that beneficiaries pay into over the course of their lifetime and not an entitlement. Making cuts to this bedrock program would be robbing American taxpayers of income they have earned and invested into the program, and that is why I am proud to join Representative Larson and the Expand Social Security Caucus.
Since Social Security was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt 83 years ago, this program has served as the cornerstone of our social safety net for seniors, keeping millions out of poverty, and helping American workers retire with dignity.
Joining the Expand Social Security Caucus reaffirms my commitment to defending Social Security and ensuring that it is there not only for our seniors today but also for future generations.
Working to Save Money Secure Additional Maintenance Work for Electric Boat
This week, my office received the final report from a long-anticipated study that I requested with several other members of the House Armed Services Committee on how much it costs to conduct regular maintenance work on submarines at public shipyards vs. private ones like Electric Boat. Over the last several years, I have consistently raised concerns about the lack of submarine repair work being assigned to private sector shipyards. We have seen increasing delays and shortfalls in capacity in the public shipyards that have kept submarines from their most important function, being at sea to support the needs of our nation. Unfortunately, the Navy has often pushed back on assigning more availabilities to private shipyards claiming that the cost of conducting maintenance in the private yards comes at an unaffordable ‘premium’.
The analysis we finally received this week shows that between 1993 and 2017, after adjusting for missing or incomplete overhead costs, the average costs of submarine repair availabilities at private shipyards were 38 percent lower than at public shipyards. As ranking member of the Seapower subcommittee, I have worked with my colleagues and the Navy to ensure that we get the maximum value out of our limited number of submarines. With this analysis now in hand, I hope that the Navy will take advantage of every possible opportunity to leverage the private shipyards to maintain and modernize our undersea fleet.
