Naval Advocates Face Pivotal Re-Election Battles

Sea Power, Oct 2006 by Scully, Megan

With the clock ticking down on the hotly contested midterm congressional elections, veteran shipbuilding advocates on Capitol Hill are finding themselves entrenched in some of the country's toughest re-election battles, making this year's campaign season a potentially pivotal one for naval interests.

The tight Missouri Senate race, in particular, could have long-term ramifications should Congress shed Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee Chairman Jim Talent, R-Mo.

Talent, a first-term senator with an eight-year House career on his résumé, has worked to boost the Navy's shipbuilding accounts - something he sees as a critical component of the country's security.

"I just believe the rebuilding of the Navy and the execution of the [chief of naval operations'] plan is crucial to the next generation of American security," Talent said in a recent interview.

In his first six years, Talent has teamed up with Senate stalwarts, such as Trent Lott, R-Miss., despite the fact that he's from the "hinterlands" as far as shipbuilding is concerned.

Unlike many other congressional shipbuilding enthusiasts, Talent has no dog in the race - Missouri is bereft of any naval shipyards. His Democratic challenger is state auditor Claire McCaskill.

"I don't have a parochial interest in how many shipyards are competing for a contract," Talent said. "I have an interest as an American in sustaining the industrial base."

Robert Work, an analyst at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said Talent is "not seen as a parochial guy. That's why losing guys like [him would be] tough. You always [have] guys who are going to fight for the parochial shipbuilding industry."

In Connecticut, Rob Simmons, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Projection Forces Subcommittee, is one of several moderate Republicans facing an uphill contest for re-election. Simmons is being challenged by former Connecticut state representative Joseph D. Courtney in his bid for a fourth term in Congress.

A close ally of House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., Simmons has emerged as a leading voice on subsurface warfare, a matter of major concern to his eastern Connecticut district, which includes General Dynamics Electric Boat, a submarine builder, and the New London Submarine Base.

In the last year, Simmons waged a successful battle against the Bush administration, convincing the independent Base Realignment and Closure Commission to overturn the Pentagon's recommendations to shutter the submarine base, the largest installation on the closure list.

And he masterminded a deal between Washington and Taipei to move forward with a long-stalled sale of eight diesel submarines to Taiwan - a move that will save jobs at struggling Electric Boat.

Simmons' interests, though in support of a stronger submarine force, often run counter to Navy goals, as with a provision he helped pass in the fiscal year 2007 defense authorization bill that authorizes $400 million for the Navy to begin building two submarines a year in 2009 - three years earlier than planned.

The Navy opposed the submarine provision, stating that it was unaffordable. But Simmons battled with Senate conferees on the bill over the issue and ultimately prevailed.

Despite the tight re-election road ahead for Talent, Simmons and a handful of other Navy proponents, their voices could be replaced by at least two upstart Democratic challengers with strong naval backgrounds.

Joseph Sestak, a retired admiral and former deputy chief of naval operations for warfare requirements and programs, is giving Republican Rep. Curt Weldon a vicious fight for the incumbent's southern Pennsylvania district, which includes Boeing's V-22 tiltrotor aircraft plant. The Osprey is a joint-service effort being led by the Marine Corps, and has endured a long and troublesome development process. Weldon is vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

Meanwhile, first-term Sen. George Alien, R-Va., is in an unexpected battle against his Democratic challenger, former Navy secretary Jim Webb. A win for Webb would put two former Navy secretaries - Webb and Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner - at the helm of Virginia's congressional delegation.

Though the race is not consistently ranked among the most contentious, Webb is considered to have a legitimate shot, particularly if Democrats boost advertising dollars in the state.

The Navy, which hopes to implement an ambitious shipbuilding plan that congressional investigators have deemed unaffordable, can use all the help it can get - from both budgetary and policy standpoints - on Capitol Hill.

"For the Navy to build the fleet, it's going to need a consistent ship procurement line and a steady topline," Work said. "Proponents of naval power will be important to make sure that happens."

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