
Immigration reform is needed to expand the defense and shipbuilding industrial base and workforce to enable building submarines at a faster rate, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said Friday. Kaine said the shipbuilding workforce is his biggest concern for the trilateral Australia-UK-U.S. AUKUS agreement to help Australia build nuclear-powered submarines by the 2040s. The plan also includes U.S. sales of three to five Virginia-class submarines in the 2030s. However, the submarine makers HII [HII] and General Dynamics’ [GD] Electric Boat are…