The US House of Representatives passed legislation to green light transfer of nuclear submarines
After months of wrangling congress has approved legislation that would facilitate the transfer of nuclear powered submarines to Australia in the early 2030s.
The House of Representatives has signed off on the AUKUS security pact that should provide Australia with a fleet of nuclear powered submarines, paving the way for the critical legislation to head to the White House for president Biden’s signature.
By a margin of 310 to 118 the House voted for the US$886 billion National Defence Authorisation Act (Thursday AEDT), paving the way for it to become law by the end of the week after certain endorsement by the president.
On social media ambassador Kevin Rudd said the deal opened up “a huge defence industry future for Australia, the UK and US. “Thanks to the House & the Senate for this vote of confidence in our shared security”.
“It has been really since 1958, that the United States navy via Congress has agreed to share nuclear propulsion technology with another country and this bill does precisely that for our great ally, Australia,” said Democrat congressman Joe Courtney, on a conference call, after the vote.
“There’s a lot more work to be done in terms of making that a reality, but Congress gave its blessing to allow this very unique and unprecedented step to be taken among the three countries”.
The section of the 3,000 plus page bill that deals with AUKUS gave the incumbent president the right to veto the submarine sale if the transfer would impair the US navy’s capabilities.
Mr Courtney played down concerns, saying the US navy, which any future president was likely to turn to for advice on the deal, was strongly behind the transfer.
“The fact that there really was not a whiff of opposition in terms of the House and Senate deliberations over the last few days I think augurs well,” he added.
After months of wrangling on Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives and the Senate and their respective Republican and Democratic majorities agreed only last week to remove legal impediments that would have thwarted the transfer of submarines and other advanced military technology.
According to comments made last month by US Vice Admiral William Houston, the US navy envisages the transfer of two Virginia class submarines from existing US inventory, and a third directly from the production line, would begin in 2032.
The bill passed the Senate last night local time by a strong majority. In his short remarks on the Senate floor Democrat majority leader Chuck Schumer said the AUKUS pact was a “game changer” that would “critically approve president Biden’s trilateral US, UK and Australian nuclear submarine agreement”.
“It will create a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines [for Australia] to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s threat and influence in the Pacific,” he added.
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