By Alex Benzegala
Panhandle Post
U.S Senator Pete Ricketts slammed the Biden Administration on Wednesday for failing to provide specific plans and funding requirements for increasing U.S Virginia-class submarine production as it works toward fulfilling terns for the Australia-United Kingdom-United States security partnership known as (AUKUS).
Ricketts is a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and commented on the situation while questioning Dr. Mara Karlin during a Senate Commitee hearing on Wednesday.
"You keep saying you want to share the information, but I'm not getting any information here," Ricketts said. "Is there a study that says 'yeah, this is what we need to make AUKUS a success, how much it's going to cost. It's probably not going to be a small number."
Ricketts also asked if there will be a supplemental from the Biden Administration requesting more money to invest in the Submarine Industrial Base. Ricketts has said that he is a supporter of AUKUS and explained in the hearing how the AUKUS agreement will help counter the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s aggression in the Indo-Pacific region.