WASHINGTON (AP) – If the Navy won’t commit to spending a certain amount of money on submarine development over the next six years, several members of Congress say they may do it.

With up to $600 million being proposed for Navy research, some Armed Services Committee members in the House and Senate want to target a substantial amount toward undersea systems, including submarine technology.

“We are fully prepared to tie these dollars down,” said Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn. “Our subcommittee has oversight over these activities, and if we have to pin the Navy down, we will pin them down. If we have to put language in the authorization bill, we will.”

Simmons and other House and Senate members from the northeast grilled Navy officials during recent committee hearings about how they plan to spend the $600 million, including the $50 million in the budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

Navy Assistant Secretary John Young would only say that various programs are under consideration, including an array of submarine alternative vessels, unmanned undersea vehicles and airborne sensors. Among the alternatives are submarines that would be as little as half the size of the Virginia Class nuclear submarines being built in Groton, Conn., and Newport News, Va.

Members of Congress from the northeast – including senior members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees – say that in order to preserve the country’s submarine industrial base, the bulk of the funding should go to developing submarine technologies.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said he intends “to ensure that the Navy commits its resources where they are needed most – to fund submarine technology.”

Lieberman tried to pin down Navy Secretary Gordon England on the matter, but he got little response during a Senate committee hearing. House members voice similar frustration.

“I would have like to have more details, and would prefer the Navy be more candid,” said Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I. “I don’t want to see the money spread over a vast number of projects. I would like to see all of that money stay in the design of future undersea combat systems.”

Faced with billions of dollars in budget cuts for shipbuilding in the next decade, lawmakers from Maine to Virginia have pushed for more money to stabilize companies and shipyards.