Document pjeJdV8kLaj2BvbkqB2k2K6a

BOM24567 S6J S.L.C. 8 1 Houthis, which has threatened global supply chains, 2 increased costs, and required naval force protection 3 operations in the Red Sea through the United 4 States-led Operation Prosperity Guardian that 5 formed in December 2023. 6 (15) A fleet of commercial shipping vessels of 7 the United States, crewed with citizen mariners, that 8 is competitive in domestic and international trade, 9 and commercial fleets participating in the United 10 States peacetime economy enhance the United 11 States military's readiness, allow the United States 12 to more strategically compete with China, and un- 13 derwrites the security and survival of the United 14 States in times of crisis and war. 15 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 16 It is the sense of Congress that the United States 17 must- 18 (1) create a more favorable domestic and global 19 maritime environment for vessels of the United 20 States engaged in international commerce, ship- 21 building, ship repair, maritime logistics, the mari- 22 time workforce, and naval power, contributing to as- 23 sured access to the world's oceans free from coercion 24 from strategic competitors and asymmetric adver- 25 caries; OST-2025-1200 Page 00379 Sierra Club v. Dept. of Transp. - 3:25-cv-06221 SC_EVERSPLIT0012060 B0M24567 S6J S.L.C. 9 1 (2) increase domestic shipbuilding and ship re- 2 pair capacity, with programs and policies that enable 3 the growth of United States shipyards and the mari- 4 time industrial base, enhance military sealift capac- 5 ity, expand the United States maritime workforce, 6 and enhance national security; 7 (3) revitalize the international fleet of vessels of 8 the United States and foster a comparative advan- 9 tage for the United States through targeted incen- 10 tives and regulatory reforms to make the fleet com- 11 petitive with international carriers and to gain a sus- 12 tamable share of the global maritime market in 13 order to bolster supply chains, strengthen economic 14 security, and lower prices; 15 (4) take all measures necessary to ensure that 16 sufficient military, civil, and commercial resources 17 will be available with assured access to meet defense 18 deployment needs and essential economic activities 19 for our Nation in times of crisis, war, or peace; 20 (5) recognize that a vibrant commercial ship- 21 building industry provides redundancies and creates 22 economies of scale that improve military, Coast 23 Guard, and Government shipbuilding and support 24 military operations through strategic sealift to de- 25 fend the freedom of the seas; OST-2025-1200 Page 00380 Sierra Club v. Dept. of Transp. - 3:25-cv-06221 SC_EVERSPLIT0012061 B0M24567 S6J S.L.C. 10 1 (6) ensure better coordination between Federal 2 agencies, including the Maritime Administration, the 3 United States Coast Guard, the Department of De- 4 fense, the Federal Maritime Commission, and all 5 other Federal agencies with a maritime nexus, to 6 protect, regulate, and support the United States 7 maritime industry, resolve disputes, and implement 8 a whole-of-Government national maritime strategy; 9 (7) establish reliable long-term demand signals 10 for, and investments in, oceangoing commercial ves- 11 sels that are built in the United States, documented 12 under the laws of the United States, and crewed by 13 United States mariners; 14 (8) evaluate past and present maritime efforts 15 to take actions to revitalize the United States mari- 16 time industry; 17 (9) strengthen the United States intercoastal 18 and domestic trade fleet, which is the foundation 19 upon which a revitalized United States-documented 20 shipping and domestic shipbuilding industry will be 21 built; 22 (10) recognize the important role that the sup- 23 port craft, passenger, and fishing vessel fleet play in 24 the United States maritime industry; OST-2025-1200 Page 00381 Sierra Club v. Dept. of Transp. - 3:25-cv-06221 SC_EVERSPLIT0012062 B0M24567 S6J S.L.C. 11 1 (11) encourage the shipping of commercial 2 cargo on vessels of the United States, with the aim 3 of growing the size and carrying capacity of the 4 international fleet of vessels of the United States; 5 (12) grow the shipping capacity of vessels of 6 the United States and guarantee United States Gov- 7 eminent cargo during peacetime; 8 (13) develop a whole-of-Government effort to 9 expand, develop, and protect the maritime work- 10 force; 11 (14) recognize the need for more workers in the 12 maritime sector and stimulate growth in the United 13 States maritime and shipbuilding industries, includ- 14 ing by increasing access to early maritime education, 15 commissioning national marketing campaigns to 16 demonstrate how United States shipbuilding, United 17 States-documented shipping, and maritime workers 18 are critical to national security, and implementing 19 workforce accelerator programs; 20 (15) remove barriers to training mariners, in- 21 eluding reevaluating Coast Guard training require- 22 ments regarding faculty credentials, instructional fa- 23 cility designs, sea time requirements, and other iden- 24 tified barriers, consistent with international treaty 25 obligations; OST-2025-1200 Page 00382 Sierra Club v. Dept. of Transp. - 3:25-cv-06221 SC_EVERSPLIT0012063 B0M24567 S6J S.L.C. 12 1 (16) expand and nurture a robust mariner 2 workforce that enhances the national security and 3 strategic sealift readiness of the United States by in- 4 creasing the number of United States mariners and 5 improving existing pathways and establishing new 6 pathways for new, current, and former merchant 7 mariners to go to sea; 8 (17) recognize that the United States Merchant 9 Marine Academy and our State maritime academies 10 are critical to training the next generation of li- 11 censed officers and engineers on vessels of the 12 United States; 13 (18) invest and innovate in domestic ship- 14 building, ship repair, and the shipping capabilities 15 and capacity of vessels of the United States to ad- 16 vane the power and influence of the maritime in- 17 dustry of the United States; 18 (19) drive multi-stakeholder research, develop- 19 ment, assessment, and deployment of emerging ma- 20 rine technologies and best practices related to the 21 maritime transportation system to ensure United 22 States leadership in next-generation shipbuilding, 23 ship repair, and maritime logistics; 24 (20) drive modern business and manufacturing 25 approaches, such as innovative maritime logistics, OST-2025-1200 Page 00383 Sierra Club v. Dept. of Transp. - 3:25-cv-06221 SC_EVERSPLIT0012064 B0M24567 S6J S.L.C. 13 1 clean fuels, and advanced nuclear energy, human- 2 machine teaming, additive manufacturing, and other 3 advanced technologies; 4 (21) review and update regulations governing 5 vessel design and engineering, vessel and facility op- 6 eration, and merchant mariner credentialing, in 7 order to revitalize the United States maritime indus- 8 try; 9 (22) seek mutually beneficial relationships with 10 treaty allies and strategic partners to grow the do- ll mestic shipping and shipbuilding industries of the 12 United States and to share the burden of providing 13 freedom of navigation on the high seas, while de- 14 risking the United States maritime domain from the 15 People's Republic of China, foreign countries of con- 16 cern, and asymmetric or emerging maritime threats; 17 (23) harden critical maritime infrastructure and 18 networks, and incrementally replace infrastructure 19 built by foreign adversaries with domestic-built and 20 allied-built infrastructure; and 21 (24) promote the values of the United States 22 for quality of life, worker safety, environmental stew- 23 ardship, maritime independence, freedom of the 24 seas, and the resilience of our oceans, seas, and in- 25 land waterways. OST-2025-1200 Page 00384 Sierra Club v. Dept. of Transp. - 3:25-cv-06221 SC_EVERSPLIT0012065 BOM24567 S6J S.L.C. 14 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 2 In this Act: 3 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 4 DRESS.--The term "appropriate committees of Con- 5 gress" means- 6 (A) the Committee on Armed Services, the 7 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans- 8 portation, and the Committee on Appropria- 9 tions of the Senate; and 10 (B) the Committee on Armed Services, the 11 Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc- 12 ture, and the Committee on Appropriations of 13 the House of Representatives. 14 (2) DOMESTIC COMMERCE.--The term "domes- 15 tic commerce" means the transportation of goods or 16 passengers between places in the United States. 17 (3) FOREIGN COMMERCE.--The term "foreign 18 commerce" means- 19 (A) commerce or trade between the United 20 States, its territories or possessions, or the Dis- 21 trict of Columbia, and a foreign country; and 22 (B) commerce or trade between foreign 23 countries. 24 (4) FOREIGN COUNTRY OF CONCERN.--The 25 term "foreign country of concern" means-- OST-2025-1200 Page 00385 Sierra Club v. Dept. of Transp. - 3:25-cv-06221 SC_EVERSPLIT0012066 BOM24567 S6J S.L.C. 15 1 (A) a country that is a covered nation (as 2 defined in section 4872(d) of title 10, United 3 States Code); and 4 (B) any country that the Maritime Admin- 5 istrator, in consultation with the Secretary of 6 Defense, the Secretary of State, the Director of 7 National Intelligence, and the Chair of the Fed- 8 eral Maritime Commission, determines to be en- 9 gaged in conduct that is detrimental to the na- 10 tional security or foreign policy of the United 11 States. 12 (5) FOREIGN ENTITY.--The term "foreign enti- 13 ty"- 14 (A) means- 15 (i) a government of a foreign country 16 or a foreign political party; 17 (ii) a natural person who is not a law- 18 ful permanent resident of the United 19 States, a citizen of the United States, or 20 any other protected individual (as such 21 term is defined in section 274B(a)(3) of 22 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 23 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3))); or 24 (iii) a partnership, association, cor- 25 poration, organization, or other combina- OST-2025-1200 Page 00386 Sierra Club v. Dept. of Transp. - 3:25-cv-06221 SC_EVERSPLIT0012067