The Maritime Administration presented the Trump administration’s FY 2027 budget priorities for federal maritime programs at a congressional hearing on Wednesday, saying it supports the president’s “unprecedented advocacy” for rebuilding the long-ignored maritime sector.
“The maritime industry is currently experiencing a historic resurgence, driven by President Trump’s unprecedented advocacy for the sector,” Capt. Stephen M. Carmel, the Maritime Administration (Marad) administrator, told the House Transportation subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.
“This commitment was solidified by the signing of Executive Order 14269, Restoring America's Maritime Dominance, which precipitated the development of the Maritime Action Plan. This strategic roadmap serves as the definitive blueprint for rejuvenating the Maritime Industrial Base and ensuring the nation’s long-term competitive edge at sea,” Carmel said.
The request, which is in the early stages of review by Congress, would authorize $2.6 billion to support an array of maritime programs, including grants for small shipyards and ports, training at state and federal maritime academies, maintaining fleets of vessels to transport U.S. military supplies during war and emergencies, and developing new initiatives to revitalize the nation’s merchant fleet and the shipbuilding industry, through a new $1.4 billion Maritime Security Trust Fund that has not yet been created.
But the proposal ran into stiff criticism from the panel’s democrats. They complained that the budget numbers look generous and inflated because they rely on money coming in from a trust fund that has not yet been approved by Congress. “There’s $1.4 billion for a trust fund without providing any details of how it will operate or how it will be funded in the future,” said Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash.
“The proposal looks like an increase in funding (for maritime programs) but only if the new trust fund is created,” added Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif. “Otherwise, there is a significant decrease in funding for key programs, like the port infrastructure development program, and zero funding for the maritime environmental and technical assistance program, the cable security program, and the National Defense Reserve Fleet recapitalization. It shows a lack of prioritization by this administration.”
Democrats also turned the discussion into a referendum against what they called the “disastrous” decision by the president to issue a temporary, 150-day waiver of the Jones Act, which requires that all goods shipped between two U.S. ports be carried by U.S-built, owned, and crewed vessels. The administration said that allowing foreign ships to deliver oil and natural gas between U.S. ports would help ease the escalating price of gasoline that Americans are experiencing at the pumps.
Carbajal questioned whether the administration’s support for the industry was sincere. “Unfortunately, it’s unclear whether this administration supports the maritime industry or not,” he said. “Despite having issued the Maritime Action Plan to grow the domestic maritime industry, President Trump has levied the strongest attack against the domestic maritime industry ever. The unjustified waiver of the Jones Act is the opposite of what needs to be done to grow the industry and strengthen our defense and national security.”
Carbajal and others said the waiver is crippling the industry by shifting business away from U.S. vessels to foreign ships from rivals such as China, and has not resulted in a drop in gas prices.
“If we allow this to continue, we will become completely reliant on foreign ships owned and crewed by foreign companies for our economic security. American ships crewed by American mariners should be carrying American commerce,” the congressman said.
Carmel, a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and a former mariner, said he couldn’t comment on the Jones Act waiver because Marad was not involved in making the decision and was not consulted.
But he said his agency “has a vision and a path forward (for revitalizing the industry), and we are executing it. The war in Iran has highlighted some of our successes but also areas in which we need to improve.”
One example of reforms underway, he said, is overhauling and modernizing its ship financing programs, while a lot of work remains to increase cargo carried by U.S.-flagged commercial vessels that are currently experiencing a cargo shortage.
Among some of the budget highlights are continued subsidies for the Maritime Security Program to maintain a viable commercial fleet of vessels to provide military sealift capacity, investing in 10 additional U.S.-flag product tankers, grants for port infrastructure and small shipyards, money to continue significant upgrades and repairs at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and to fund to operate the new National Security Multi-mission Vessel program that has delivered new training ships to three state maritime academies, with the fourth anticipated for delivery to Texas A&M Maritime Academy in the fall of 2027.
