Bipartisan ‘Ships for America Act’ Building Support in Congress, Say Sponsors
USNI News
By: John Grady
September 25, 2024
A comprehensive bill to restore U.S. shipbuilding capacity, build back its shipyard workforce and crew those ships with American mariners will soon be introduced in both houses of Congress with strong bipartisan support, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Airland subcommittee said Wednesday.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a graduate of the Merchant Marine Academy, said the 200-page bill called “Ships for America Act,” has more than 200 members from both houses supporting it and will likely be introduced following the November election.
Kelly and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), chair of the House Armed Services Readiness subcommittee, have been meeting “with industry – shipbuilding, operators, labor” to gain support for the bill.
They also were leaders in writing “Congressional Guidance for a National Maritime Strategy,” released this spring, which laid the groundwork for the bill. Waltz called the document “a not so gentle nudge” to the Biden administration and future administrations that the “strength of the Navy will be underlined by the strength of our maritime industry.”
Waltz, appearing with Kelly on the U.S. Naval Institute’s and the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Maritime Security Dialogue webcast, pointed to USNS Big Horn (T-AO-198) as evidence that U.S. shipbuilding needs immediate attention. With at least one rudder damaged and its main engine space partially flooded, the oiler had to be towed to a port in Oman for repair.
Big Horn is the only oiler assigned to the Abraham Lincoln Strike Group operating in the Middle East, he said. “Only carriers and submarines are nuclear-powered” and as such don’t require refueling during a deployment. “The rest need to be refueled. Those aircraft [aboard carriers] have to be refueled. And, by the way, you have to stop to refuel” Aegis destroyers if not done by specially built tankers with trained mariners while ships are underway.
Waltz said operations in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea where Iranian-backed Houthis are attacking commercial shipping and Navy vessels show the nation needs “a maritime fleet we can depend on” during a crisis.
Both said the United States does not have a fleet that size now or the crews to man those ships.
Waltz added operating in the Pacific means factoring in time, distance and the sustainability of naval, ground and air forces in a conflict there.
“What do you think [the Chinese] are going to go after” if fighting began over Taiwan or the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, in the South China Sea. “We don’t have a backup” after the initial delivery of forces. “What is Day 30 going to look like; what is Day 180 going to look like?”
Bipartisan ‘Ships for America Act’ Building Support in Congress, Say Sponsors
John Grady
September 25, 2024 5:08 PM
Newport News Shipbuilding on Feb. 19, 2024. HII Photo
A comprehensive bill to restore U.S. shipbuilding capacity, build back its shipyard workforce and crew those ships with American mariners will soon be introduced in both houses of Congress with strong bipartisan support, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Airland subcommittee said Wednesday.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a graduate of the Merchant Marine Academy, said the 200-page bill called “Ships for America Act,” has more than 200 members from both houses supporting it and will likely be introduced following the November election.
Kelly and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), chair of the House Armed Services Readiness subcommittee, have been meeting “with industry – shipbuilding, operators, labor” to gain support for the bill.
They also were leaders in writing “Congressional Guidance for a National Maritime Strategy,” released this spring, which laid the groundwork for the bill. Waltz called the document “a not so gentle nudge” to the Biden administration and future administrations that the “strength of the Navy will be underlined by the strength of our maritime industry.”
Waltz, appearing with Kelly on the U.S. Naval Institute’s and the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Maritime Security Dialogue webcast, pointed to USNS Big Horn (T-AO-198) as evidence that U.S. shipbuilding needs immediate attention. With at least one rudder damaged and its main engine space partially flooded, the oiler had to be towed to a port in Oman for repair.
Big Horn is the only oiler assigned to the Abraham Lincoln Strike Group operating in the Middle East, he said. “Only carriers and submarines are nuclear-powered” and as such don’t require refueling during a deployment. “The rest need to be refueled. Those aircraft [aboard carriers] have to be refueled. And, by the way, you have to stop to refuel” Aegis destroyers if not done by specially built tankers with trained mariners while ships are underway.
Waltz said operations in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea where Iranian-backed Houthis are attacking commercial shipping and Navy vessels show the nation needs “a maritime fleet we can depend on” during a crisis.
Both said the United States does not have a fleet that size now or the crews to man those ships.
Waltz added operating in the Pacific means factoring in time, distance and the sustainability of naval, ground and air forces in a conflict there.
“What do you think [the Chinese] are going to go after” if fighting began over Taiwan or the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, in the South China Sea. “We don’t have a backup” after the initial delivery of forces. “What is Day 30 going to look like; what is Day 180 going to look like?”
Oiler USNS Big Horn (T-AO-198) steams alongside the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) during a replenishment-at-sea on Jan. 16, 2023. US Navy Photo
The war in Ukraine, now in its third year, provides the lesson that this is a 21st-century reality, Waltz said. He added prolonged warfare, if carried out in the Pacific, requires restoring and building dry docks and ship repair facilities for Navy and commercial ships.
Previewing the bill, Kelly said, “we’re not suggesting repeal the Jones Act.” The 1920 law requires cargo carried between U.S. ports be done by U.S.-built ships that are owned and operated by domestic firms and crewed by U.S. citizens.
He said the bill aims to make “it more cost-effective to operate U.S.-flagged vessels with some cargo preferences.’’ He added, “we need regulatory reform and some financial support like tax credits” to restore shipbuilding capacity and ship ownership.
Both noted Chinese shipyards have orders for 1,500 ships to deliver in a year, while the United States will deliver five from its 20 yards. Hyundai in South Korea has orders for 50.
“We basically don’t build ships anymore,” Waltz said. “The Chinese navy is growing, doing it on the back of its commercial shipbuilding industry,” which is “heavily subsidized.”
Kelly said the bill would build “up our shipbuilding capacity to ensure we have more U.S.-flagged ships at home and the workforce” to build, repair and crew them.
China has 5,500 merchant ships, about half the world’s total, Kelly said. “The lack of [American] commercial shipbuilding order affects the supply chain” for Navy ships like submarines.
To revitalize shipbuilding and officer and crew U.S.-flagged and owned ships workforce issues of recruiting, training and retention must be addressed, both said.
“Turning wrenches” as a lifelong career should not be looked down on, Waltz said. “There’s kind of an amazing middle ground” in the trade skills like welding, electrical work and more that lead to “six-figure jobs in your 20s and no debt” for four years of college study, Waltz said.
The Apprentice School at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding was held up as an example of investing in training new workers in the skilled trades the yards need.
The possible sidelining of 17 USNS support ships for lack of trained mariners highlights the need to incentivize careers at sea, Kelly said. He added the addition of new training ships for the U.S. and state maritime academies “are very important” for the next generation of mariners in mastering 21st-century operations at sea. He added the bill would more closely align international and Coast Guard regulations on licensing mariners, as well as offer financial and tax incentives to retain them.
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