You’ll hear a lot about the SHIPS for America Act in our America at Sea series. If you’ve never read a bill, you’re not alone. This primer is for American families and veterans who want to understand what it is, what it would do, who pays, what’s being debated, and where it stands, in plain words.
What is it?
SHIPS stands for the Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security for America Act. It’s a bipartisan bill, led by Sens. Mark Kelly and Todd Young and Reps. John Garamendi and Trent Kelly, to rebuild America’s commercial shipbuilding, its U.S.-flag merchant fleet, and the workforce behind both [1][2]. It was first introduced in December 2024 and reintroduced in April 2025 [3].
Why should my family care?
Much of what you buy comes to this country by sea. Today, less than 1 percent of new commercial ships are built in the United States [4]. China builds more than half of the world’s new commercial ships [5]. In a crisis, the ships that carry our goods, and the fuel and supplies our forces need overseas, mostly fly other countries’ flags.
For veterans, this is personal. The Navy can’t fight far from home without the support ships and merchant mariners that keep it supplied. And the shipyards that build commercial ships are part of the same industrial base that builds and repairs the fleet.
When America ships, America wins.
What’s in it?
The bill is big, about 100 sections in its latest House version [6]. Here’s what it would do, in six parts:
1. Leadership. A Maritime Security Advisor in the White House and a Maritime Security Board of every agency with a stake at sea, so one person owns the whole picture and keeps a national maritime strategy [2].
2. Money that lasts. A Maritime Security Trust Fund, so shipbuilding doesn’t start over every budget year [2].
3. Ships. A Strategic Commercial Fleet of 250 U.S.-built, U.S.-flag ships, supported by long-term government contracts and ready to serve in a crisis [2].
4. Shipyards. Modernized financing and grants to build ships and upgrade the yards that build them [2][6].
5. Cargo. More cargo on American ships: more government cargo, and, phased in over years, a small but growing share of imports from China and of U.S. oil and LNG exports [2].
6. People. Training for the mariners, welders, shipfitters and naval architects we’re short on [2].
Who pays?
This is the question that usually gets skipped, so here’s the honest answer: it’s still being worked out.
The Senate bill would fund the trust fund mostly from fees, not new taxes on families. Those include customs duties and penalties, tonnage taxes, and new fees on ships owned or operated by China and other “foreign entities of concern,” starting at $5 per net ton [2].
The House version that passed this summer caps the trust fund at $20 billion but doesn’t name where the money comes from. House rules pushed the revenue pieces into a separate bill [6][7]. The White House’s Maritime Action Plan, released in February, proposes a fee on foreign-built ships calling at U.S. ports that it says could raise “tens of billions of dollars over a decade.” That fee would also need Congress to act [4].
What’s being debated?
A fair primer gives both sides. Here’s what’s being debated [2]:
Cost: building in the U.S. can cost several times more than in Asia. One estimate puts a U.S.-built LNG carrier at two to four times the cost of a Korean one.
Prices: requiring U.S. ships could raise freight rates and slow cargo, costs that can reach consumers.
Capacity: our yards may not be able to build ships this fast. Shipbuilder Clay Wirsing told us some targets get “a little bit ahead of ourselves” given today’s yard capacity [8].
Trade partners: business groups warn that limiting access to ships could hurt U.S. companies and global supply chains.
Supporters answer that doing nothing has its own cost: a country that can’t build or crew its own ships depends on others in a crisis.
Where does it stand?
This summer, the House passed a rewritten SHIPS Act as part of the defense bill [6]. The Senate hasn’t passed its version. The final defense bill is expected after the November election, and which maritime pieces survive is still open [6][7].
The bottom line
The SHIPS for America Act is the biggest effort in decades to answer a simple question: can America build, crew and sustain its own ships again? Reasonable people disagree on the details and the cost. Our job isn’t to tell you what to think. It’s to make sure you understand what’s being decided, while there’s still time to get it right.
Join the conversation. Reply on X and tell us: what’s working, what’s in the way, and what would you fix first?
While we argue, China plans. It’s time we started building.
Americans for a Stronger Navy is a nonpartisan not-for-profit organization.
References
[1] Sen. Todd Young, “Young, Kelly Introduce SHIPS for America Act,” April 2025: https://www.young.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/young-kelly-introduce-ships-for-america-act-to-revitalize-u-s-shipbuilding-and-commercial-maritime-industries/
[2] Troutman Pepper Locke, “Charting a New Course: The SHIPS Act of 2025 Reintroduced”: https://www.troutman.com/insights/charting-a-new-course-the-ships-act-of-2025-reintroduced/
[3] Brent Sadler, “Maritime Legislation: Explainer and Next Steps,” Heritage Foundation, August 12, 2026: https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/maritime-legislation-explainer-and-next-steps
[4] Holland & Knight, “White House Releases America’s Maritime Action Plan,” February 2026: https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2026/02/white-house-releases-americas-maritime-action-plan
[5] CSIS, “Are U.S. Policies Eroding China’s Dominance in Shipbuilding?”: https://www.csis.org/analysis/are-us-policies-eroding-chinas-dominance-shipbuilding
[6] CrossGov, “US Shipbuilding Push Rides on the NDAA,” October 11, 2026: https://crossgov.com/us-shipbuilding-push-rides-on-the-ndaa-ships-act-provisions-a-20-billion-trust-fund-and-koreas-150-billion-pledge/
[7] Seatrade Maritime News, “Reshaping the industry,” July 28, 2026: https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/regulations/reshaping-the-industry-progress-on-us-maritime-legislation
[8] Clay Wirsing, U.S. Maritime Action, interview for America at Sea, October 2026: https://strongernavy.org/blog