Connecticut defense contractors are poised to benefit from the yearly boosts in Congress’ defense policy bill, including funding to address budget shortfalls for submarine programs predominantly built by Groton-based Electric Boat.
Similar to past years, the National Defense Authorization Act will bolster the state’s big three defense companies — General Dynamics Electric Boat, Sikorsky and Pratt & Whitney — and the suppliers that work with them, as well as the country’s shipbuilding needs as it deals with rising costs and production backlogs.
That includes additional funding for the Virginia-class submarine program to maintain its two-per-year build rate, as well as new contracting authority for the Columbia-class program. U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said that will help address gaps that were left in other pieces of federal legislation.
The U.S. House easily passed the $901 billion fiscal year 2026 NDAA this week after lawmakers in both chambers negotiated a compromise over the past couple of months. The U.S. Senate is set to take it up in mid-December, and once it fully clears Congress, President Donald Trump is expected to sign it into law. The policy bill only authorizes funding, since Congress approves the money through its spending bills.
In addition to Connecticut’s defense priorities, the NDAA also authorizes a 3.8% pay raise for service members and reasserts Congress’ authority over military matters, along with repealing the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force against Iraq.
The bill also provides a rare — and bipartisan — moment of congressional oversight of Trump’s administration and the Pentagon. It withholds some of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget until he releases videos of strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. And it requires the administration to notify Congress and provide a reason about the removal or transfer of members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, combatant commanders and Judge Advocates General.
“Nearly one year into the Trump Administration, the House and Senate majorities have rarely acted as a check and balance on the President’s agenda,” Courtney said in a statement. “Passage of these bipartisan oversight measures and modifications of the Trump budget is a refreshingly healthy moment in the 119th Congress.”
Connecticut’s entire House delegation voted in support of the NDAA, with the exception of U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District. She said the price tag on the defense policy bill was more money than what was originally requested, something she took issue with as domestic programs and social services get hit by funding cuts.
“At a time when President Trump is scrutinizing every federal dollar for critical domestic programs, we continue to increase the defense budget without proper oversight or reform,” Hayes said in a statement. “I acknowledge the wins that were achieved in this legislation, but there comes a point where we have to demand reform of our defense appropriations.”
While others in the delegation voted for the bill, they expressed disappointment with the omission of other provisions in the final NDAA.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, praised the inclusion of the outbound investment screening requirements, which the bill says gives the president the authority to “prevent countries of concern from exploiting United States capital to undermine United States national security and foreign policy interests.”
But DeLauro was frustrated that Republican leaders stripped out certain measures like the expansion of military families’ health insurance to cover fertility treatments including in vitro fertilization, also known as IVF.
“This bill is better than prior years,” DeLauro said in a statement, “but I am frustrated that Speaker [Mike] Johnson has continued his practice of making 11th hour unilateral decisions that undermine bipartisan progress on other areas, including the inclusion of riders that seek to discriminate against LGBTQI+ servicemembers, and restricting families’ access to IVF.”
On submarine funding, the NDAA authorizes an additional $1.9 billion for the nuclear-powered Virginia-class program. A billion of that came from a Courtney amendment that he said was meant to address “glaring shortfalls” in funding for the program.
On top of that, the defense policy bill also authorizes an additional $615 million for advanced procurement for the program, which he said also helps with the wage boosts for shipyard workers that were part of the new labor contract agreements in the spring.
Courtney, the ranking member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, had attributed the shortfall to the administration’s two-pronged approach to funding the procurement of two Virginia-class for the new fiscal year: paying for one boat through the standard budget process and covering the other through the budget reconciliation process used to pass Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
His eastern Connecticut district includes Electric Boat’s Groton shipyard and many of the suppliers that work with the General Dynamics company. Electric Boat locations in Groton and Quonset Point, R.I., handle much of the Virginia-class program, along with Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia.
Electric Boat is also the lead contractor on the Columbia-class program, the nuclear-powered ballistic missile vessels that will replace its Ohio-class submarines. It is similarly working with Newport News Shipbuilding on the construction.
The NDAA also authorizes incremental funding for the Columbia-class program, new contracting authority for five new submarines and an additional $700 million for advanced procurement.
Courtney had been frustrated about the lack of funding for the Columbia program in last month’s spending package that reopened the government after a 43-day shutdown.
Those authorizations could help Electric Boat and others address the growing costs of materials and backlogs in production as the submarine industry tries to meet the long-term goals of both the Navy and a U.S. submarine deal with Australia.
“With a continued two-per-year for Virginia-class submarines, alongside the Columbia-class now in full production, submarine shipyards are reaching all-time high tonnage output,” Courtney said. “The investments in this bill for workforce hiring and retention, facilities and supply chains will drive growth of a new generation of shipbuilders to meet our nation’s call.”
The NDAA also includes multiyear procurement and authorizations for the modernization of Black Hawk helicopters, as well as the procurement of CH-53K heavy lift helicopters, which are both constructed at Sikorsky in Stratford. And it authorizes funding for F-35 fighter jets, which uses F135 engines solely produced by Pratt & Whitney.
There’s also a couple of U.S. Coast Guard provisions, including the ability to use existing funds to help complete the construction of the National Coast Guard Museum in New London, which until now wasn’t allowed to get funding from the service.
The NDAA also includes a safe-to-report policy that Courtney has been pushing for years and has inserted in other legislation. The measure offers protections for cadets who report instances of sexual assault or harassment to ensure they are not punished for minor violations under the Uniform Code of Military Justice that might have been committed when the crime took place. Such incidents include underage drinking, substance abuse, violations of curfew or being in areas that are off limits.
These protections have been in place at other military academies after Congress passed a defense policy bill in 2021. But the Coast Guard and its service academy were excluded because of jurisdiction issues. Unlike other military branches covered under the Pentagon, the Coast Guard reports to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The U.S. Coast Guard Academy adopted its own safe-to-report policy, which protects someone reporting sexual assault — as well as a bystander trying to prevent it from occurring — from “minor collateral violations” including underage drinking, violating barracks rules and prohibited relationships. That policy was adopted in response to the news that the Coast Guard had concealed an investigation known as “Operation Fouled Anchor” that looked into sexual assault claims made between 1988 and 2006 at the New London service academy.
The Connecticut Mirror/Connecticut Public Radio federal policy reporter position is made possible, in part, by funding from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation.
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
