Advocates praised defense leaders for excluding shipyard workers and other key readiness jobs from a department-wide hiring freeze.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., serves on the armed services committee and was the first-ever woman to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The cost estimates are critical to a debate that has delayed key congressional authorizations needed to advance AUKUS.
House Democrats are criticizing Republicans for not funding the Pentagon's request for multiyear munitions buys, as endorsed by the China Committee.
