I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2125
To establish a National Commission on the Maritime Industrial Base, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH14, 2025
Mr. G
REENof Tennessee (for himself, Mrs. KIGGANSof Virginia, and Mr.
D
AVISof North Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in ad-
dition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To establish a National Commission on the Maritime
Industrial Base, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Save Our Shipyards 4
Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘SOS Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT. 6
There is established a commission to be known as the 7
‘‘National Commission on the Maritime Industrial Base’’ 8
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or the ‘‘SOS Commission’’ (in this Act referred to as the 1
‘‘Commission’’). 2
SEC. 3. FUNCTIONS. 3
(a) I
NVESTIGATION AND STUDY.—The Commission 4
shall complete an investigation and study the condition of 5
the United States maritime industry and any impediments 6
to a strong and competitive United States maritime indus-7
try, with a particular focus on the needs of the United 8
States military, including shipyards, shipbuilding and re-9
pairs, harbors, and skilled workforce. 10
(b) P
OLICYRECOMMENDATIONS .—Based on the re-11
sults of the investigation and study under subsection (a), 12
the Commission shall recommend to the President and 13
Congress policies which should be adopted to— 14
(1) achieve the national goal of a strong United 15
States maritime industry which will help to provide 16
for the national defense; 17
(2) revitalize the United States naval fleet and 18
maintain that fleet at a level sufficient to contribute 19
to the national defense; 20
(3) foster a viable United States shipbuilding 21
industry to provide an industrial base for meeting 22
present and future military and civilian shipbuilding 23
needs; and 24
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(4) reduce the loss of seafaring and ship-1
building jobs for United States citizens so as to en-2
sure the existence of a reliable maritime labor force. 3
SEC. 4. SPECIFIC MATTERS TO BE ADDRESSED. 4
In investigating and studying under section 3, the 5
Commission shall investigate and study the following: 6
(1) C
URRENT CONDITION OF UNITED STATES 7
MARITIME INDUSTRY.—The current condition of the 8
United States maritime industry, including how the 9
condition of the industry is likely to change over the 10
next 10 years following the date of enactment of this 11
Act. 12
(2) N
ATIONAL DEFENSE.—The adequacy of the 13
United States maritime industry to ensure the na-14
tional defense. 15
(3) M
ARITIME LABOR.—The adequacy of skilled 16
mariners and shipyard workers, and the level of 17
training of United States mariners at training facili-18
ties in the United States. 19
(4) I
MPEDIMENTS TO STRONG AND COMPETI -20
TIVE MARITIME INDUSTRY .—Whether the Federal 21
Government should take any legislative or adminis-22
trative actions related to the United States maritime 23
industry to strengthen our national security, includ-24
ing— 25
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(A) the tax and regulatory burden on the 1
US maritime industry; 2
(B) incentives to encourage investment in 3
United States shipyards and shipbuilding; 4
(C) incentives for personnel to enter the 5
skilled labor workforce for shipbuilding; 6
(D) the effect of subsidies and other finan-7
cial assistance by foreign governments to their 8
vessel operators and shipbuilders; 9
(E) the effects of great power competition 10
and a potential war on United States naval and 11
maritime forces; and 12
(F) the prioritization of national security 13
related matters in regulatory review and ap-14
proval processes. 15
SEC. 5. MEMBERSHIP; ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS. 16
(a) A
PPOINTMENT.—The Commission shall be com-17
posed of 15 voting commissioners and 7 non-voting mem-18
bers appointed in the following manner: 19
(1) 5 voting commissioners appointed by the 20
President. 21
(2) 7 non-voting members appointed by the 22
President who shall be chosen from the list described 23
in subsection (c). 24
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(3) 3 voting commissioners appointed by the 1
majority leader of the Senate. 2
(4) 3 voting commissioners appointed by the 3
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 4
(5) 2 voting commissioners appointed by the 5
minority leader of the Senate. 6
(6) 2 voting commissioners appointed by the 7
minority leader of the House of Representatives. 8
(b) Q
UALIFICATIONS FOR VOTINGCOMMIS-9
SIONERS.—Voting commissioners appointed under sub-10
section (a) shall be appointed from among United States 11
citizens who are experts in commercial shipping, inter-12
national trade, maritime industry policy and regulations, 13
and related disciplines and who can represent United 14
States-flagged vessel operators (including domestic pas-15
senger vessel operators), seafaring and shipbuilding labor, 16
shipbuilders, shippers, and the financial community with 17
expertise in maritime matters. 18
(c) Q
UALIFICATIONS OFNON-VOTINGMEMBERS.— 19
One non-voting member appointed under subsection (a) 20
shall be appointed from each of the following: 21
(1) The Navy. 22
(2) The Coast Guard. 23
(3) The United States Maritime Service. 24
(4) The Marine Corps. 25
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(5) The United States Naval War College. 1
(6) The Maritime Administration. 2
(7) The United States Merchant Maritime 3
Academy. 4
(d) T
ERMS OF OFFICE.—Members and commis-5
sioners shall be appointed for the duration of the Commis-6
sion. 7
(e) I
NITIALMEETING.—Not later than 90 days after 8
two-thirds of the voting commissioners have been ap-9
pointed under this section, the Commission shall be con-10
sidered active and the Commission shall hold a first meet-11
ing. 12
(f) V
ACANCIES.—A vacancy in the Commission shall 13
be filled in the manner in which the original appointment 14
was made. 15
(g) T
RAVELEXPENSES.—Members and commis-16
sioners shall serve without pay but shall receive travel ex-17
penses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in ac-18
cordance with subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United 19
States Code. 20
(h) C
HAIR.—The President, in consultation with the 21
majority leader of the Senate and the Speaker of the 22
House of Representatives, shall designate the Chair of the 23
Commission from among its voting members. 24
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(i) QUORUM.—For the purposes of conducting meet-1
ings of the Commission, a quorum of the Commission shall 2
be considered the presence of 10 voting commissioners. 3
(j) C
OMMISSIONPANELS.—The Chair shall establish 4
such panels consisting of voting commissioners as the 5
Chair determines appropriate to carry out the functions 6
of the Commission. 7
(k) S
TAFF.—The Commission may appoint and fix 8
the pay of such personnel as the Commission determines 9
appropriate. 10
(l) S
TAFF OFFEDERALAGENCIES.—Upon request of 11
the Commission, the head of any department or agency 12
of the United States may detail, on a reimbursable basis, 13
any of the personnel of that department or agency to the 14
Commission to assist it in carrying out its duties under 15
this title. 16
(m) A
DMINISTRATIVESUPPORTSERVICES.—Upon 17
request of the Commission, the Administrator of General 18
Services shall provide to the Commission, on a reimburs-19
able basis, the administrative support services necessary 20
for the Commission to carry out its duties under this title. 21
(n) O
BTAININGOFFICIALDATA.—The Commission 22
may secure directly from any department or agency of the 23
United States information (other than information re-24
quired by any statute of the United States to be kept con-25
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fidential by such department or agency) necessary for the 1
Commission to carry out its duties under this title. Upon 2
request of the Commission, the head of that department 3
or agency shall furnish such nonconfidential information 4
to the Commission. 5
(o) S
ECURITYCLEARANCES FOR COMMISSIONERS, 6
M
EMBERS, ANDSTAFF.—The appropriate Federal depart-7
ments or agencies shall cooperate with the Commission in 8
expeditiously providing to commissioners, members, and 9
staff appropriate security clearances to the extent possible 10
pursuant to existing procedures and requirements, except 11
that no person may be provided with access to classified 12
information under this Act without the appropriate secu-13
rity clearances. 14
SEC. 6. REPORT. 15
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 16
date on which the Commission holds the first meeting 17
under section 5, the Commission shall transmit to the 18
President and Congress a report on the activities of the 19
Commission, including recommendations made by the 20
Commission under section 3(b) which shall be considered 21
by the relevant congressional committees for possible legis-22
lative action. 23
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(b) CLASSIFICATION.—The report under subsection 1
(a) shall be transmitted in an unclassified form but may 2
include a classified annex. 3
SEC. 7. TERMINATION. 4
The Commission shall terminate on the date that is 5
30 days after the transmittal of the report under section 6
6. 7
Æ
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