Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi) has said a defense appropriations bill that the House and Senate agreed upon would provide $21.2 billion for the U.S. Navy‘s shipbuilding programs, Defense News reported Friday.Christopher Diamond writes Cochran said the legislation seeks to increase ship construction funds at the Navy by $2.8 billion for fiscal 2017 and fund three additional ships above the military service’s proposed budget.
Cochran added the bill would finance the construction of two Virginia-class submarines, three DDG-51 destroyers, three littoral combat ships, one amphibious assault ship and one amphibious transport dock, according to the report.
The bill also would allocate procurement funds for the Ohio submarine and aircraft carrier replacement programs, Diamond reported.
House members plan to vote on the defense bill in the coming days.
