On Wednesday, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) held a press briefing to make a legislative update.
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00:00Kick her off.
00:18All right.
00:21Morning, everybody.
00:24Thank you for coming.
00:25It's great to be here today to celebrate the reintroduction.
00:30of our Ships for America Act.
00:32I want to recognize the co-leads of this bill who will speak in a moment.
00:36My partner in the Senate, Senator Todd Young from Indiana,
00:41and then in the House, Representative Trent Kelly from Mississippi,
00:46Representative John Garamendi from California.
00:49I want to thank each of you for all your hard work on this legislation.
00:55We've also got a lot of folks here who worked on this bill with us
00:58who are going to be very critical to making it a success.
01:02You'll hear from a few of them, but I want to thank everybody for coming
01:05and being such an important part of this effort.
01:10Now, we've got the people here who build ships
01:14and produce the materials that go into them, including the Shipbuilders Council of America,
01:23the Steel Workers Union, the American Iron and Steel Institute,
01:28and the Alliance for American Manufacturing.
01:33We've also got the men and women who will at time spend months away from their friends and family
01:40serving aboard U.S. flagged vessels as merchant mariners,
01:45literally ensuring that ocean-going trade can happen.
01:51And we've got representatives from the institutions that are going to help deliver the workforce that we need,
01:57including the Great Lakes Maritime Academy, and Texas A&M,
02:03and my alma mater, the United States Merchant Marine Academy.
02:08It's been about 40 years since I spent a semester at sea as a midshipman.
02:15I was on ships going to South America, to Europe, through the Indian Ocean, to the Middle East, and also to Japan.
02:28And a lot has changed since then, not all of it for the better.
02:32There are currently 80 U.S. flagged vessels in international commerce.
02:39Do you know how many China has?
02:42So we have 80, China has 5,500.
02:46And they're building a lot more every single year.
02:50And the United States commercial maritime industry cannot keep pace
02:55with China's shipbuilding and maritime fleet,
02:58and it's driving up costs, and it is threatening our national security.
03:04It means that so many of the products that get shipped to American ports,
03:08that are then put on trains and trucks, and sent to stores everywhere from Arizona to Indiana,
03:16are on Chinese ships, built with subsidies from the Chinese government,
03:22and at a price set by Chinese companies.
03:26So that's why today we're reintroducing the Ships for America Act, which is, without a doubt,
03:33the most ambitious effort in a generation to revitalize the U.S. shipbuilding and commercial
03:39maritime industries, and counter China's dominance over the oceans.
03:46And this is going to mean more ships built in America, more ships staffed by American crews,
03:58and more products coming to our country on those American ships.
04:02This is going to be good for our economy and good for our national security.
04:08It's going to create good-paying American jobs.
04:10It's going to make our supply chains more resilient.
04:14It's going to lower costs and strengthen our ability to resupply our military in times of war.
04:23Now, tackling this challenge has been a top priority for me since becoming a senator,
04:29because I've seen how the decline of our maritime industry has affected our country.
04:36I've seen it up close.
04:38And I know how China's dominance over the oceans impacts my constituents in Arizona,
04:46but also everybody across our nation.
04:50Now, I'm glad that my colleagues in Congress, both Republicans and Democrats,
04:54in the House and in the Senate and in the administration,
04:57see this challenge too, and are now ready to actually do something about it.
05:03So let's get this done.
05:05So let me start by passing this along to my colleague in the Senate, Senator Young,
05:12who is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, who is a former United States Marine,
05:17and a great leader on this effort. Senator Young.
05:20Well, thank you, Senator Kelly. Thank you for your longstanding leadership on this essential issue.
05:31Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to make American ships again.
05:40And let's hear it for our merchant mariners. Let's hear it for our merchant mariners.
05:44We value you. We support you. And we're going to get this done.
05:53Because America's rise from 13 colonies to the most powerful nation on earth was in part
05:59because of sea power. And by power, we mean not only the world's mightiest navy,
06:04but also its greatest commercial fleet. We had that at one time. The first defends our people and values
06:15on the oceans. The second carries our goods and goodwill across them. Both are crucial for national
06:23security and economic security. Teddy Roosevelt understood this. He knew something about naval history
06:31and shipbuilding. He said that the spread of our trade and peace and the defense of our flag in war
06:38depended, depended on America possessing the world's largest commercial fleet. But right now,
06:46with our rusted maritime sector and abandoned shipyards, we're very far from having that. The opposite
06:53is true across the Pacific Ocean. Today, China has 5,500 commercial vessels in the international commerce.
07:03The United States, 80. They build 1,000 ocean-going ships every year. We build roughly five.
07:13We should call this convergence, the rise of China's commercial fleet and the fall of our own,
07:19what it is. It's a pending national crisis. If our economy depends on goods carried aboard Chinese
07:26flagged vessels, our supply chain is always at the mercy of the Chinese Communist Party.
07:33If we have only a few seaworthy commercial vessels, we'll struggle to transport our troops
07:39to the front lines in the case of a conflict in the South China Sea.
07:43If our commercial shipyard industrial base continues to collapse, if we do nothing,
07:50we'll be unable to build and repair warships. It's, of course, time to change course.
07:57It's time to rebuild our merchant marine.
08:04Hope is on its way. The Ships for America Act is our blueprint to begin this endeavor.
08:13Our bill will fund and cut the red tape stalling U.S. maritime policy.
08:19It will boost the U.S. merchant marine, revive our shipyard industrial base,
08:24protect our people and economy from foreign threats, and provide good-paying jobs to Americans,
08:31Americans whose creativity will help build the commercial fleet of the future.
08:37We're not the only ones hoping to end our shipbuilding decline.
08:40Last month, President Trump signed an executive order encouraging private investment to help raise
08:47new shipyards. This is a critical national and economic security issue, one that transcends party.
08:56It is time to make American ships again.
08:59Next up will be Congressman Garamendi, one who has shown great leadership on this issue.
09:13Thank you, senators. Really appreciate working with you.
09:17We're going to do this. We're going to make it in America again. It's a policy that all of us have
09:21been working on for a good long time. We're going to bring jobs back to America. We're going to bring
09:26jobs back to our shipyards, shipyards that were once derelict. In California, the Mare Island shipyard
09:36was shut down, the oldest naval base on the west coast. It was shut down. It's going to be revitalized.
09:42It's already on its way. We're going to make jobs all across this nation, in the steel industry,
09:48in the shipbuilding industry. This is the most comprehensive piece of legislation dealing with the
09:54American maritime industry ever introduced. It covers all of the subject matters that are necessary,
10:01all of the supply chain, all of the parts, the steel, the engines that are going to be built in
10:07the upper Midwest, the steel that's going to be produced, some of it in California and a lot of it
10:12in the Midwest. It's jobs coming back to America. And on the ships, we will see these young men and women,
10:20and maybe not so young, that are going to be back on the ships in the future. It can be done. It will
10:27be done. The Rosie the Riveters during World War II said, let's get it done. And that's exactly what
10:34we're going to do today. We're going to make sure that there is cargo on those ships. If cargo is king,
10:41it's part of this legislation. If it's the workers, if it's the men and women that need to be trained
10:49to be on the ships, that's going to happen because the maritime academies across this nation
10:55will be funded. They will be, their services will be increased, and the multi-mission ships,
11:01the fifth is now being built in Philadelphia. It's going to wind up at the maritime academy
11:07in Vallejo. And I know the other maritime academies have also received those ships.
11:12It's all of the pieces of the puzzle. It's the most comprehensive maritime improvement
11:18legislation ever introduced. And it didn't come about because we wished it. It came about because
11:24of the hard work of our colleagues in the Senate and in the House. I want to shout out to Mike Walsh,
11:30who decided he ought to go over to the administration and the National Security Agency. Good work there.
11:36But Mike's work early days in putting this together, the legislation, was profoundly important. And his
11:42support in the White House continues along that way. All of them. You see here just a small portion
11:49of the people that have been working on this legislation. Even yesterday, some final pieces
11:54of legislation were written so that we can all come together to make this happen. We will get it done.
12:01We will follow the rosy derivatives that said, let's get it done. That's exactly what we're going to do.
12:08And it's going to take all of the support that you see here to make it happen. Every piece of it
12:13is in this legislation. And it didn't just happen because we wished it. It happened because of a lot of
12:20hard work over more than a decade. Individual pieces of the puzzle have been in play all along the way.
12:28And now it's in one piece of legislation. Ships for America. That is our rallying call. Those are
12:34the signs. We're going to make it happen. Thank you so very much for the support of my colleagues.
12:39I will hear from my distant cousin, Congressman Trent Kelly. Thank you, Senator.
12:53You know, what you're seeing here today is a revitalization and a reemergence of us as the
13:00greatest maritime nation in the world. And it's got to be public. It's got to be private. It's got to be
13:08in the House and the Senate and the administration. If we want to get back to our roots and the thing
13:14that made us the greatest nation in the history of the world, we have to get back to being the
13:20greatest maritime nation in the world. And I can speak about the past. We've been there,
13:25so we know how to do it. And not that much atrophy is set in. We know we can do it in the future. You see
13:31our future behind us. This is our future. It's also those young workers who are looking for careers and
13:38something that they can be proud of. It is in the House bipartisan in nature, both the Republican,
13:45Democrat, House, Senate, administration. But it's got to be public, private. It's got to be a whole of
13:52government. We have got to make sure we have synergy. We have energy. We have got to finish the product.
13:59It is unacceptable for us not to be the greatest maritime nation in the world now and always.
14:07And to do that, we have to build our maritime industry across this nation. And whether you're
14:13talking about the Port of Gulfport in Mississippi or whether you're talking about Indiana or anywhere
14:19in middle America that makes pieces, parts, or ships, whether we're talking about the west coast
14:25of America or the east coast of America, whether we're talking about the Atlantic or the Pacific,
14:30the Indian Ocean, anywhere in the world, our maritime dominance. But what it takes is it's
14:37going to take all of you. It's going to take each and every one of you, putting every fiber of your
14:43being into making sure that we maintain the momentum that we have now to once again be the
14:50maritime dominant leader across the world. Because our ideas and our spirits of America,
14:56we're democracy. And we believe in democracies delivering. So that means it's a team effort,
15:03and I need all of you. Thank you, Senator Kelly, Senator Young, and Representative Garamendi.
15:08God bless America.
15:09One of the first parts of this is we need to make it more economical to build more ships in America.
15:17Nobody, nobody can speak better on that than Matt Paxton, who is the president of the Shipbuilders
15:25Council of America. Matt.
15:30Well, thank you, Senator Kelly. This is a true moment in revitalizing our shipyard industrial base.
15:39Thank you, Senator Young. Thank you, Congressman Trent Kelly. And thank you, Congressman Garamendi.
15:46We've had our fights. We've had our fights on a lot of legislation in the past, but this is truly
15:52a moment in time. The Ship for America Act is a generational piece of legislation.
15:58I am so proud to be here in this moment. Our patriots that work in our shipyards are absolutely essential.
16:07They're national security assets. And this legislation is going to double down
16:13on the investments made in our shipyards and our facilities and our people. And I couldn't be more
16:20proud to be standing at this moment in this time, truly bipartisan, truly bicameral, and just down the
16:27street at the administration with an office of shipbuilding. This is a moment that we must seize.
16:32And the men behind me and all the merchant marines, I am so proud of this moment. God bless America.
16:43Thank you, Matt. The Ships for America Act has the support of many unions who understand,
16:50maybe more than anybody else, how this is going to improve the lives of hardworking Americans.
16:57So I'd like to introduce a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy from the class of 2019.
17:03King's Point is my alma mater. So it gives me great honor to introduce Chief Mate Elizabeth
17:08Levi, member of the Organization of Masters, Mates, and Pilots.
17:17Thank you, Senator. I'm Elizabeth Levy, a Chief Mate, proud Union member of Masters, Mates,
17:23and Pilots, and a proud graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York.
17:27I started my career as a professional mariner 10 years ago. My career has taken me globally as well
17:32as in our backyards. I've sailed on commercial container ships, bulk carriers, on the Great Lakes,
17:38and on military position ships sailing on U.S. flag vessels domestically and internationally.
17:44I serve as a lieutenant in the United States Navy as a Strategic Sealift Officer.
17:48I'm proud to stand here today as a professional mariner, a proud Union member of Masters, Mates,
17:53and Pilots. I'm grateful to have a job which has allowed me to see the world and connect each and
17:58every one of us with global goods and serve my country. My job has allowed me to make a good living,
18:03to be able to pursue the American dream, to buy a house and invest in my community and my future.
18:09I'm thankful to work in an industry that rewards a strong work ethic and being a good shipmate.
18:13Yet, despite these things and the opportunities that working as a professional mariner have afforded me,
18:20there are not enough of us and there is a mariner shortage. Why is this? As with all things,
18:26there are many layers that contribute to this. Whether it is the hurdles to gain, renew, and
18:30maintain credentials or the crumbling state of the United States Merchant Marine Academy, which is in
18:36desperate need of infrastructure revitalization or the dwindling amount of U.S. flag vessels for American
18:41mariners to sail on. I currently sail as a civilian mariner and army for positioning ships. These
18:48vessels carry critical equipment to support our nation's defense needs abroad. This job places
18:53professional mariners like myself in harm's way. The same is true for all of us who sail on ships in
18:58the U.S. fleet, whether it is serving on a defense mission or those on commercial container ships having
19:03missiles launched at them in the Red Sea. This is why Americans Merchant Marine is called the fourth
19:09arm of defense and often the forgotten one. We are ready, willing, and able to answer our country's
19:15call and to respond as American mariners have always responded to support American troops deployed
19:20anywhere in the world. Professional mariners like myself are sailing 24-7 globally on every ocean and
19:27waterway, performing work that is critical to our nation's security, defense, and economic needs.
19:33The American Merchant Marine has been essential since the birth of our nation and through every conflict.
19:38The U.S. Navy was actually created to protect U.S. Merchant Marine ships.
19:42This is why I'm happy to be here today to endorse the Ships for America Act, both as a professional
19:48mariner and on behalf of my union master's mates and pilots. This law will revitalize the U.S. maritime
19:54industry. It will make our country stronger by increasing the size of U.S. flag fleet and most importantly it
20:01will incentivize shippers to use U.S. flag vessels to carry a greater share of America's foreign trade.
20:07An incentive that provides more jobs and opportunities to U.S. mariners like myself.
20:12Jobs which can support a family. Without cargo, ships don't sail and mariners don't work.
20:18More American ships means more jobs for U.S. mariners. Mariners who will step up to serve in
20:23times of peace and in times of war and other national emergencies. The Ships for America Act will rebuild
20:30the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, one of our nation's five federal service academies. USMMA graduates 80%
20:36of the U.S. Navy Strategic Sealift Officers, those officers who are service obligated to command vessels
20:42during times of conflict. The Ships for America Act is an exciting piece of legislation. It will attract
20:48more young people to our critical industry. It will help retain those who have given their whole lives to
20:54this profession. It will help create and support jobs for American mariners ensuring that our country
20:59has the maritime manpower needed to protect and enhance our nation's economic and military security.
21:05It will allow our nation to revitalize our maritime industry. Invest in our professional mariners who
21:12have a skill set that is so desperately needed in today's global political space where a maritime
21:17conflict is just one event away at any moment. The time to invest in our nation's maritime strategy and
21:24dominance is now. And in the interest of our country's national security, defense, and economic needs,
21:30I urge Congress to pass it. Thank you, Elizabeth. And I think as of today, the U.S. merchant marine is not
21:42forgotten anymore. And finally, it's a personal privilege of mine to have somebody I know really,
21:48really well. He's a former astronaut, one of the very few people I have flown in space with more than once.
21:55And he is also the superintendent of the Texas A&M Maritime Academy. My very good friend, Mike Fossett.
22:09Thank you, Senator. Twenty years ago, right now exactly, Senator Kelly and I were training together
22:15for the second return to flight mission after the fatal space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. We had some
22:23time to talk and I was pretty sure back then he would find his way to the U.S. Congress and he was
22:28pretty sure I would find my way to Texas A&M University, my alma mater. But neither one of us could have
22:34imagined that we would be here today doing something like this way back then. My name is Mike Fossett.
22:40After 36 years in the Air Force and NASA, I've accepted a new mission as the vice president of Texas A&M
22:46University, the chief operating officer of the Galveston campus, and superintendent of the Texas A&M
22:51Maritime Academy. We owe huge thanks to Senator Kelly, Senator Young, Congressman Kelly, and Congressman
22:58Garamendi for their strong leadership and relentlessly pushing forward to reintroduce this legislation that
23:04is vital to our national security and national economy. They've already said a lot about that,
23:10but I want to just point out also for everybody in the United States, 90 percent of everything we use,
23:18wear, drive, or consume, travels on ships before it gets to us. For the state of Texas alone,
23:26the blue economy is 28 percent of the GDP of Texas. The exports of the oil and gas and byproducts,
23:33the manufactured products, the agricultural products, cotton, citrus, beef, corn, etc.,
23:39is vital to our just local economy in Texas. We've talked about the military sea lift command and its
23:45support for the deployed forces overseas, at sea and overseas. I don't think we've mentioned that 17
23:52of those vital ships are tied up right now, laid up, not being used because they do not have the
23:57mariners they need to crew them. Military sea lift command made 12 recruiting trips to my campus in
24:02Galveston last year alone. It's a vital need. The Texas A&M Maritime Academy is proud to be the only
24:09State Maritime Academy on the Gulf Coast. We're also the only Maritime Academy that is part of a tier one
24:16university, which is a land, sea, and space grant institution, with a research portfolio of over
24:221.2 billion dollars. The Texas A&M Extension Service is also critical for workforce development,
24:32and we have training centers near shipyards in Texas, so we cover the full spectrum. Now,
24:38Texas A&M Maritime is just one of six amazing State Maritime Academies, each with their unique
24:45qualities which are critical to training and educating the next generation of mariners.
24:50Together, we produce about 70 to 75 percent of the mariners for our nation, with the balance coming
24:56from the Federal Merchant Marine Academy. Now, let's talk some details of those State Maritime
25:01Academies as a whole. Enrollment in all of our programs together peaked in 2015, with about 3,565
25:10students enrolled. By 22, in the aftermath of COVID, enrollment in our programs had declined by 35 percent.
25:19There's been some bounce back, but not nearly enough. Why? There are many factors. We've spent a lot of time
25:25working this, but one of the biggest ones is the cost of the programs to students.
25:31We get very little support from the Federal Government for the operation of these training
25:34ships, and most of that cost is passed on to our students. That cost equals more than an entire
25:42extra year in college for them, so it's hard to get them in our doors. In 2015, the six training ships
25:51used by the Maritime Academies had 1920 berths. The training ships were old, really tired, and near the
26:00end of their life. Congress funded the new National Security Multi-Mission Vessels, or NSMVs, to build
26:06state-of-the-art training and coastal disaster response vessels. With these new NSMVs replacing the
26:13smaller ships, we've added over 1,100 new training berths in our existing academies. With these new
26:19ships and existing university capabilities, we believe we can grow to handle a maximum of about
26:254,400 cadets in our existing unlimited license programs and graduate over 1,000 more new officers a year.
26:36Additional investments in our campuses will enable most of us to grow even more, much more.
26:44Build these new fleets, and we will get you the crews you need.
26:48Build these new fleets, and we have to get the costs down to get students in our doors.
26:54Thank you again, Senator Kelly, for your leadership.
26:57We launched on our first mission on the 4th of July, 2006.
27:02It appears, sir, we're on another mission together to serve our country.
27:06We don't know how long it's going to take, but our destination is clear.
27:11And we now have a mission plan to get us there.
27:15And we know when we start.
27:18Today, April 30th, 2025, is our launch day. Thank you.
27:28Thank you, Mike. And now we have a few minutes to take some questions from the press.
27:35Yes.
27:35I have two questions. The first one is a little bit broader.
27:38In terms of the original ship sacks were included in the executive order.
27:42The press release that you guys put out talked a lot about momentum building behind it.
27:48Is that because of sort of the executive branch sign-off of a lot of these provisions,
27:53or what else is happening behind it?
27:54The question was about momentum.
27:57Was it connected with the executive order from the White House on shipbuilding,
28:01and the fact that there are some things in the executive order that apparently come from
28:07our ships for America Act?
28:09I would say, yeah, yeah, of course.
28:11I mean, to have an administration that's behind a significant piece of legislation is helpful,
28:17and it's a lot of momentum.
28:20We're confident that if we get this across the finish line, bipartisan in the House and Senate,
28:24get it passed, that this administration will be interested in signing it into law.
28:28One other question about the tax provisions in this bill.
28:32Yes.
28:32It looks like you're broken out into a separate bill, at least in the Senate.
28:34Yes.
28:34Can you explain why you had to move it that way to-
28:37Yeah, I could, or I don't know if Todd wants to take that question about, you know, just the fact that-
28:42Yeah, sure. Yeah.
28:43So I sit on the finance committee, and it was a decision to break off provisions pertaining to this
28:51legislation into separate legislation, just so that in coming months, as we reconsider various provisions
28:59of the tax code, we could also study these. Most of these provisions, however, fall outside of the
29:08general focus of the committee right now. So it made a lot of sense for us to have a separation of labor.
29:16We thought that this approach would facilitate faster passage. And since President Trump and the
29:21White House, in addition to bipartisan supporters here in Congress and so many stakeholders,
29:27are really emphasizing the importance of speed, as is our new Secretary of the Navy,
29:32who sees complementary efforts between this maritime initiative and his leadership, which will be
29:39required to rebuild the U.S. Navy. We wanted to do whatever we could to expedite the process.
29:50The other House. The legislation is comprehensive. It covers at least eight different committees in
29:58the House of Representatives. And so for us to move this legislation along, we need the support of
30:04everybody. The President's support, the President's Cabinet's support is extremely important in
30:08accomplishing that, as is the support of the bicameral and bipartisan that you're seeing here today.
30:15And there's a lot more members of the House that have signed on to the bill from both Republican
30:19as well as on the Senate side. But the most important support comes from the people you see around us.
30:25It's the industry. It's the men and women that are on the ships and will be on the ships in the future.
30:30It's the men and women that are in the shipyards that will be building those ships.
30:35And it's the total supply chain. I mentioned the engines built in the upper Midwest. All of that
30:41support is now focused on this legislation. And as we work through the normal processes of the
30:49legislative in the House and the Senate, we will fast track many of these issues through the committee
30:56because of the broad support that exists. It's not going to be easy. It's going to take a lot of work. And
31:01all of us, Senate and the House, we're dedicated to make this happen. This didn't happen in one year.
31:07This has been at least a 20 year process, 15 years for me. And I know for Mark and the others,
31:13similar number of years out ahead. It's all come together in the Ships for America Act.
31:17Senator Kelly, I'm interested to hear you say that this legislation could bring down the cost of
31:27shipping. Everybody I speak to, the companies that use shipping that will have to use more,
31:33American-built ships, American man ships, they say it's going to push up the cost of shipping,
31:38and they don't like efforts like this because of that. Can you explain how this bill will reduce the
31:44cost of shipping for the exporters in this country? Well, first of all, I don't agree with that
31:50analysis, right? So the idea here, there are incentives in here, tax incentives and others to
31:58make it cost effective for companies to ship goods on U.S. vessels. Without the right incentives,
32:10you're not going to compel somebody to use an option that's more expensive. So we've spent a
32:17lot of time and effort on all aspects of this industry to bring down the costs. And to do that,
32:25you've got to provide cargo preference incentives to put cargo on U.S. ships, and that's in the legislation.
32:33Can I add to that? Yes. I thought Senator Kelly did a good job addressing one dimension of the cost,
32:42the costs at sort of the consumer level. But there's another type of cost this, of course,
32:48is designed to address, and that is economic and national security costs. We have done a really bad
32:56job in recent histories in incorporating an economic and national security premium into the goods and
33:04services that we value. We saw this with semiconductors. In that case, we had a geopolitical
33:12or a natural event, pandemic, interrupt supply chains, highly distributed supply chains. Not a geopolitical
33:19event, although in recent weeks we've seen interruptions of critical minerals which go into
33:28that supply chain. That's an illustration of, and then we saw massive increases, spikes in the cost at
33:34the consumer level that redounded throughout the economy. You couldn't even go to Walmart and get a
33:40toaster for a period of time because we didn't have access to a sufficient supply of semiconductors.
33:47That's a cost. That's a cost on our economy. So this is an insurance policy and a national
33:54security investment, just as we make all kinds of other national security investments in the future.
34:00We can no longer continue to be over the barrel every time we want to ship a good from here to there,
34:10asking our chief adversary, the Chinese Communist Party,
34:14Mother, may I? Mother, may I use these ships? That's an untenable position, a very costly position to be in.
34:23Senator, you opened the China issue.
34:28Anyone that studies the cost of shipping, the cost of shipbuilding, needs to recognize that yes, it's
34:35been expensive in America. If we are able to increase the ability of America to build ships,
34:41those costs will come down and my colleagues have spoken to that. The other side of the equation
34:46is what is China doing? What is the Chinese Communist Party doing to build its shipping industry?
34:52Enormous subsidies in every single step along the way to build a ship. Those subsidies are found in the
35:01shipyards themselves, in the ability of China to build modern shipyards, and in every part of the ship.
35:09And it doesn't stop there. It goes on into subsidizing the actual cost of the operation of the ship.
35:17Those subsidies have put China in an extraordinary advantageous position.
35:24And so as we look at the cost of shipping, please keep in mind that the Chinese Communist Party has
35:30subsidized its shipping industry in the construction and in the operation of the ships. And we're up
35:37against that. This legislation addresses every single one of the factors that will allow America to be
35:44competitive in that marketplace. All right, folks, thanks for thanks for coming. A few of us will hang
35:50around for a little bit, but really appreciate everybody being here.