; Whereas over the previous 5 decades, 14 defense-related new-construction shipyards have closed, 3 have left the defense industry, and only 1 new shipyard has opened; Whereas stable and predictable funding allows for Navy leaders to properly forecast their missions and adhere to the Optimized Fleet Response Plan while also enabling industry partners to prepare for ship repair work at the most competitive prices to the United States Government; Whereas China’s shipbuilding industry, according to a Naval War College professor, is poised to make the People’s Liberation Army Navy the world’s second largest navy by 2020, and, if current trends continue, a combat fleet that in overall order of battle is quantitatively on par with that of the United States Navy by 2030; Whereas China continues to develop forward operating bases on manmade islands in the South China Sea and, by doing so, consolidate its control over the strategic corridor between the Indian and Pacific Oceans through which 1/3 of global maritime trade passes; and Whereas Russia’s shipbuilding industry’s focus on undersea warfare has positioned the Russian Navy to add six modernized nuclear attack submarines to its naval inventory by 2023 and aggressively modernize its aging Oscar-class nuclear attack submarine fleet: Now, therefore, be it