Sponsors (17)
Introduced April 30, 2025 by Mark Edward Kelly · Last progress April 30, 2025
The bill prioritizes U.S. maritime and national security by rebuilding domestic shipbuilding, sealift, workforce, and infrastructure — delivering jobs and resilience but at the cost of higher taxpayer spending, increased freight and procurement costs, added regulatory complexity, and potential strain on trade relationships.
Millions of Americans (military personnel, veterans, and mariners) would benefit from stronger national security and readiness as the bill expands strategic sealift, increases the U.S. commercial fleet and civil‑military coordination, and gives agencies clearer authority to address risky foreign actors.
U.S. shipbuilders, manufacturers, and maritime workers would see increased demand and jobs as the bill prioritizes domestic ship construction, repair, and supply‑chain development (including Buy America preferences and standardized U.S. designs).
Students and current mariners would gain training, recruitment, career pathways, academy modernization, and retention incentives (PSLF eligibility, paid retention programs, noncompetitive hiring), improving long‑term workforce capacity for maritime careers.
Consumers, taxpayers, and shippers are likely to face higher costs because preferences, cargo‑preference rules, penalty tonnage taxes, Buy America sourcing, and other domestic priorities raise freight, import, and procurement prices.
Federal spending, fiscal exposure, and budgetary tradeoffs would increase (new appropriations, redirected customs/tonnage receipts, loan guarantees, and Trust Fund commitments), potentially forcing cuts elsewhere or raising revenue needs.
Designation rules, restrictions on foreign entities/shipyards, and 'de‑risking' measures could strain diplomatic and trade relationships and disrupt access to specialized foreign inputs or capital, complicating global supply chains.
Based on analysis of 24 sections of legislative text.
Rebuilds U.S. maritime industrial base and sealift through a new Maritime Security Advisor/Board, a trust fund and loan program, shipbuilding incentives, domestic content rules, workforce and academy investments.
Creates new federal leadership, funds, and programs to rebuild the U.S. commercial maritime fleet, shipyards, and workforce so more ships, shipbuilders, and American mariners are available for national security and commerce. It establishes a Maritime Security Advisor and Board, a Maritime Security Trust Fund and loan program, new shipbuilding incentives and Buy‑America-like rules, export carriage requirements for crude oil, a Center for Maritime Innovation with regional incubators, and a 10‑year campus modernization plan for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. The bill also adds workforce and education changes: it makes certain full‑time credentialed merchant mariners eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness and some VA education benefits, requires tabletop and annual exercises to test sealift and cable‑repair readiness, and directs assessments of cable repair capability and ship operations funds. Many agency actions are required on a 60–180 day timeline after enactment and some programs are funded or authorized through a new trust fund and related appropriations or transfers.