Reintroduction of the Federal Ship Financing Improvement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, today I reintroduced my ``Federal Ship Financing Improvement Act,'' expanding the Maritime Administration's (MARAD) federal ship financing program--commonly referred to as ``Title XI'' of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936--to include re-flagging, repair, or conversions of U.S.-flagged civilian vessels for commercial and military purposes.

Currently, MARAD's Title XI program only provides federal loans and loan guarantees for the construction of new civilian vessels in U.S.- based commercial shipyards or facility and equipment upgrades at those shipyards. My bill would allow MARAD to also provide loan guarantees for corrective or preventative maintenance or re-flagging work at U.S.- based shipyards, including to convert a commercial vessel to a more useful military configuration to carry out federal contracts. The bill would also require that all shipyard improvement projects with loans or loan guarantees from MARAD use construction materials produced or manufactured in the United States. In the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116-92), U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and I implemented these ``Buy America'' requirements for MARAD's small shipyard grant program.

As chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and the former ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, I have long supported our domestic shipbuilding and U.S.-flagged international fleet. The bill I reintroduced today builds upon my work in the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 116-283), in which I helped to secure Congressional authorization for the new tanker security fleet and strengthened the military's US-flagged preference for seaborne cargo contracts. In the 117th Congress, my ``Federal Ship Financing Improvement Act'' was partially incorporated as Section 307 of the Chairman's mark of the House's ``Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022'' (H.R. 6865) but removed from the final law.

Mr. Speaker, American shipyards are ready, willing, and able to take on this additional work. Expanding MARAD's Title XI loan guarantee program to support that work means more well-paying jobs for American workers and better maintained vessels flagged in the United States, useful for military and commercial purposes. I urge all members of the House to cosponsor the ``Federal Ship Financing Improvement Act.''

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