Congress has tweaked the reconciliation bill to shift $4.5 billion to buy a Virginia-class submarine in Fiscal Year 2026 instead of FY 2027, according to language in the legislation passed by the House this week.

The move, according to two sources familiar with the change, is designed to ensure the Navy will acquire two Virginia-class submarines in Fiscal Year 2026 by using money in the reconciliation legislation to buy one of the boats.

Previous versions of the bill had the $4.5 billion earmarked to buy a Virginia-class boat in FY 2027. At the time, legislative sources told USNI News the move would ensure there was money set aside for two boats in 2027 as a hedge against the Navy and White House only asking for one.

The unique four-year spending horizon of the reconciliation bill leaves those crafting the legislation to make a educated guesses on what the Navy might ask to buy over the next four budget cycles, sources have told USNI News. Without a formal presidential budget submission, the House and the Senate are relying on less formal methods to craft the $150 billion in overall defense spending.

Legislators are now assuming that in the upcoming FY 2026 presidential budget the Navy will only ask for one Virginia-class submarine rather than two. Shifting the $4.5 billion into a Fiscal Year 2026-line item is a hedge to maintain a two boat-per-year cadence for the service, the sources familiar with the rationale told USNI News.

Sources have told USNI News that lawmakers see the reconciliation bill as a one-time supplemental to existing spending while the White House is factoring the money into their ongoing budget deliberations for FY 2026.

A Navy spokesperson told USNI News that the service would not comment on the FY 2026 presidential budget because it’s “predecisional.”

The shift in the bill comes as the Navy and submarine contractor General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding negotiate the next 15 nuclear submarines — a planned multi-year deal for 10 Block VI Virginia-class and five Build II Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.

A spokesperson for General Dynamics declined to comment when reached by USNI News.

“It would be inappropriate to speculate on the specific outcomes in the reconciliation bill process as Congressional leaders continue to discuss and refine the legislation,” an HII spokesperson told USNI News on Friday.
“We appreciate the Administration’s support to shipbuilding and look forward to understanding more about the Fiscal Year 2026 budget when details are formally released.”

The reconciliation bill, which passed the House this week, will now go to the Senate.

Last month the Navy awarded Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding $18.5 billion for two long-awaited Block V Virginia-class submarines and additional workforce funds.

The total includes $2.1 billion in long-lead material that Naval Sea Systems Command awarded across the two yards. Congress appropriated $9.4 billion for the two boats in Fiscal Year 2024 and added another $1.95 billion for them in the December continuing resolution. The total also included funds to boost worker wages.

Lagging wages for shipyard workers compared to other industries have been a major issue for shipyards to remain competitive, both Navy and industry officials have said.

“We’re going to have to be willing to pay [shipyard workers] more to keep them, we’re going to have to be willing to train them more,” former Naval Sea Systems commander Vice Adm. Tom Moore said last week at the U.S. Naval Institute’s annual meeting.