Indiana Senator Todd Young Co-Sponsors Major Shipbuilding Bill
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — America’s shipbuilding capacity is as much an economic security issues as a military one, says Indiana’s Sen. Todd Young.
Speaking at The Hudson Institute in Washington Wednesday morning alongside Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., the Indiana Republican said he is co-sponsoring Kelly’s SHIPS for America Act. The legislation is based on the CHIPS and Science Act that Young played a key role in two years ago. His comments came just ahead of a news conference in which the two senators announced they were re-introducing the bill, which they originally offered in December.
The legislation focuses on America’s shipbuilding industry. Young and Kelly said the United States has 80 U.S.-flagged vessels in international commerce compared to 5,500 for China. According to them, this limits America’s ability to move troops and heavy equipment around the Pacific in the event of a war with China and leaves the U.S. with very little reserve capacity in the likely event any of those vessels are sunk in such a conflict.
China already engages in economically coercive activities on a daily basis, most of which go unseen by the American people, Young said. The COVID-19 pandemic already has demonstrated the vulnerability of supply chains that rely on China.
“We’re incredibly vulnerable right now if we don’t bolster that capacity. This is not just about, God forbid, military conflict, a major military conflict,” he said. “This is about day-to-day trading and not having to ask ‘Mother, may I’ in order to bring goods here and send them there.”
The bill would establish a Maritime Security Advisor and an interagency Maritime Security Board in the White House. It also would establish a 25% investment tax credit for shipyard investments and a shipbuilding financial incentives program. Additionally, it sets up a maritime career promotion and retention program and creates educational partnerships akin to those in the CHIPS Act.
Young said the bill could mean big opportunities for Cummins, which is based in Indianapolis, and Rolls-Royce, which has major operations in Indianapolis, in the maritime engine sector. Small businesses specializing in high-end machining, such as for submarine-rated valves, also could benefit. The bill also sets a goal of expanding the U.S. Merchant Marine fleet to 250 ships within 10 years.
Young and Kelly hope to get the legislation to President Donald Trump’s desk by the end of the year.