Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – Opening remarks, as prepared, of Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Mike Ezell (R-MS) from today’s joint hearing with the Armed Services Committee, entitled “Revitalizing Shipbuilding and the Maritime Industrial Base”:

The United States needs more ships in its public and private fleets, and those ships must be built here — in the shipyards of this nation.

I applaud everything President Trump and his administration are doing to reinvigorate the American maritime industrial base and United States shipbuilding. The President has been clear about his goal of investing billions of dollars in United States shipyards to bolster American shipbuilding and make the United States a leading producer of ships for the world. As the President said, “We want them built in America.” 

The need to exceed current shipbuilding capacities and capabilities is not abstract. Threats to American security are global and many come from the sea. Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, has rightly urged shipyards to “…‘act like we are at war’ when it comes to production and readiness.”

The Maritime Action Plan provides a clear vision and a navigable path for how the United States can be a consequential maritime power beyond deploying unequaled military capabilities on the sea. Shipbuilding is the keystone of the Maritime Action Plan. 

The President’s fiscal year 2027 budget request seeks funding for the construction of 41 new vessels for government use. We should move forward with each of these projects, and we should procure many more government-owned ships that can be used to protect our national security, explore our oceans, and guard our shores.

Building ships is an expensive enterprise, and the United States government must get smarter about how it procures new vessels. Cost overruns, delayed deliveries, and quality control issues must be recognized, addressed, and remedied. I am certain we can make shipbuilding dollars go further if we implement design, contracting, and project management reforms we will hear about today.

I am particularly interested in hearing how the Coast Guard can improve its ship design and acquisition programs. The Coast Guard is in the initial phase of a vessel recapitalization program that is unprecedented in cost and scale. 

Previous Coast Guard vessel acquisition programs can charitably be described as “needing improvement.” We cannot afford — either in time or cost — for the Coast Guard to repeat decisions or adhere to policies that have previously resulted in projects exceeding budgets, experiencing delays, or being canceled altogether.

Congress has already provided important tools for the Coast Guard to use in cutter acquisitions, including block buy authority, and most recently in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025, the use of a “best value” standard when considering major acquisition programs. I am prepared to consider other legislative measures that would bring appropriate, but beneficial, structure and discipline to Coast Guard acquisitions.

The United States must be able to project power globally while simultaneously protecting its own shores. We need vessels of all types capable of conducting these missions.  The potentially significant number of ships the United States government will need to buy in the coming years means the Navy and Coast Guard must become smarter, more organized, and better-prepared customers. 

Shipbuilding is critical to the United States, and it is critical to the Fourth District of Mississippi. I will do everything I can to support the President in building more ships, and I am very interested in hearing from our Congressional Budget Office and Government Accountability Office witnesses on how we can do just that.   

Click here for the opening statement of Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces Chairman Trent Kelly (R-MS).

Click here for more information from today’s hearing, including video and witness testimony.