SHIPS For America Act Re-Introduced In Congress
Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) joined Reps. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) and a group of maritime leaders and supporters in reintroducing the Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security (SHIPS) for America Act on April 30.
Kelly was one of the original sponsors of the act when it was introduced, but not passed, in the previous Congress.
According to Kelly’s office, just 80 U.S.-flagged commercial oceangoing vessels participate in international commerce, compared to 5,500 ships from China. Young said the message is simple: “Make American ships again.” Kelly, a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, said even his Arizona constituents felt the impact on prices driven by a China-dominated maritime shipping industry, subsidized by the Chinese government. Kelly said the bill “is without a doubt the most ambitious effort in a generation to revitalize the U.S. shipbuilding and commercial maritime industries and counter China’s dominance over the oceans.”
Young called the issue of China’s maritime dominance a “pending national crisis.”
“If our economy depends on goods carried aboard Chinese-flagged vessels, our supply chain is always at the mercy of the Chinese Communist Party,” Young said.
Re-introduced as two Senate bills, the SHIPS for America Act would establish the Office of the Maritime Security Advisor, a new position appointed by the president, with a four-member board to oversee the maritime workforce and the size of maritime security fleets. The existing Maritime Transportation System National Advisory Committee would report to the new office.
Texas A&M Maritime Academy Superintendent Michael Fossum, a former astronaut colleague of Kelly’s, said the two men were now “on another mission together to serve our country.” Fossum noted that those 80 U.S.-flagged ships included 17 that are sidelined because there are not enough mariners available to crew them. Fossum said the bill would provide the support needed to boost training program enrollment and revamp training berths without having to pass the costs down to students.
“Build these new fleets, and we will get you the crews you need,” he said, “but we have to get costs down to get students in the doors.”
Some of the bill’s provisions, which lawmakers have long discussed, were included in Trump’s April 9 “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance” executive order. It condemns China’s “unfair targeting of maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors,” noting that China builds an estimated half of commercial ships, while the U.S. contributes just 1 percent.
The bill creates a Maritime Security Trust Fund, similar to the funds for highways and aviation. It would encourage the United States to work with allies to meet sealift requirements and would require 100 percent of government cargo to travel on U.S.-flagged ships, up from the 50 percent requirement today.
The legislation would also create a Strategic Commercial Fleet Program, a new fleet of 250 U.S.-flag ships created by purchasing “commercially viable, militarily useful, privately owned vessels,” according to a summary of the bill from Kelly’s office. This fleet would serve “to meet national security requirements and maintain a U.S. presence in international commercial shipping,” according to the summary.
A package of workforce incentives in the bill would include public service loan forgiveness, limited eligibility for educational assistance under the military’s GI bill and a military-to-mariner career pipeline.
