Pledge: Gary McCauley
Prayer: Rev. Ed Cornell
Song: Bill McLaughlin
Sergeants Report: Joe Arcari
HAPPY BUCKS: Lots for our guests, happy to be here, Nate was happy to be inducted today, Joe Courtney was happy to see bipartisan officials here.
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Nathan was born in Mt. Vernon, NY. His grandfather was a Rotarian 100 years ago and known for "re-inventing" Edison's yellow light to make it white light. Nate was appointed by Mike Pace to be the Board Chairman of the Acton Public Library for many happy years and is a graduate of Yale. Nate "values Rotary for its mission of good work, recognition of academic excellence in students and its record of service to the poorest nations on Earth.". Induction of Nathan Wise. L-R: Sponsor Brent Taylor, Nathan, Bill McLaughlin, Gary McCauley |
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Gary introduced our special guest, Congressman Joe Courtney:
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Joe started by thanking the club for inviting him to speak at our meeting. First Selectman Carl Fortuna was also present and won his election running unopposed to the envy of Joe. Joe said it was no accident that he was unopposed which is recognition for the great job he does for the town of Old Saybrook. He also praised Devin Carney, hearing good things about his work in the legislature. There's a lot going on in Washington right now but Joe talked mostly about his district and particularly the Navy contract awarded to Electric Boat to build the new Virginia class submarines. Joe is the Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, the first Connecticut Congressman to chair this since 1873. The subcommittee impacts ship building, contracts and more. This subcommittee is well rounded with 2 women and people with military backgrounds. Even though they are new, the learning curve was very short. The submarine contract with the Navy is $20 for 5 years. It takes 2 years to build one Virginia Class submarine. Joe pointed out that the submarine retirement rate is faster than the build rate which could lead to a shortfall. There are 17,000 employees at EB now and that is expected to climb to 22-23,000. 2/3 are employed in Groton, 1/3 at the Quonset Point facility. EB faces an employee shortfall when baby boomer employees are expected to retire. This is a highly skilled workforce and future employees will have to be trained - they can't simply walk in and do the work. Joe is working with Connecticut schools and colleges to get up to speed to provide the necessay educational curricula particularly STEM. Joe serves on the Education and Labor Committee and is dealing with topics like college affordability and expanding Pell Grants. Congress will be holding colleges accountable for how they spend federal dollars. Tuition at UCONN is now $27K and thats considered reasonable these days. Joe said that the trend of skyrocketing college costs is not sustainable.
Concerning China's sub fleet, they have a different mix of diesel and nuclear powered subs than the US but they are a force to be reckoned with. Following a decline from the cold war, Russia is ramping up - as Joe said, they are back in business. Russian submarines are faster and can go deeper than ours but they don't have as many. They are quickly improving and adding to their fleet. In Norway, where submarine activity is monitored, Joe said that the activity level is much higher than its ever been. We have to play "zone" defense instead of man-to-man because of the high amount of activity. Submarines are the future for our defense because surface ships are vulnerable to missle attack while subs are not. Look for more dollars being spent on submarines and less on carriers and other surface ships.
Link to Joe's website:
Congressman Joe Courtney
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