# 119-s-1536: Building Ships in America Act of 2025

119-s-1536, Building Ships in America Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Kelly, Mark [D-AZ] (D-AZ); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2025-12-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1536
- As of: 2025-12-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-1536
- Congress: 119
- Title: Building Ships in America Act of 2025
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-04-30
- Sponsor: Sen. Kelly, Mark [D-AZ] (D-AZ)
- Cosponsors: 4
- Policy area: Taxation
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2025-12-21

## Summary

**Revive U.S. shipbuilding and ports** by creating large tax credits and related rules to push vessel construction, shipyard investment, and maritime activity into American yards and ports. - Shipowners and operators: A new United States Vessel Investment Credit covers a large share of qualified U.S. construction, repowering, or reconstruction costs with a 33% base credit for eligible cargo vessels that commit to operate as U.S. vessels for at least 10 years. - Shipyards and manufacturers: A Shipyard Investment Tax Credit equals 25% of qualifying shipyard facility investments to support building and repair capacity. The shipyard credit ends for property placed in service after 2032. - Ports, communities, and funds: Merchant Marine capital construction fund rules are rewritten to set new deposit and staged withdrawal limits, bar funding automation that causes net job loss at terminals, ban purchases of certain cranes from the People’s Republic of China, and create up to 100 Maritime Prosperity Zones as Qualified Opportunity Zones for five years.

## Cosponsors (4)

- Sen. Young, Todd [R-IN] (R-IN), 2025-04-30T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] (R-AK), 2025-04-30T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI] (D-WI), 2025-04-30T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Fetterman, John [D-PA] (D-PA), 2025-04-30T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Large tax credits for U.S. shipbuilding: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would create two big tax credits for U.S. shipbuilding. One credit would cover qualified vessel construction and repowering: a 33% base credit plus up to 5% for U.S. protection and indemnity insurance and 2% for U.S. classification, so up to 40%. A second credit would give 25%…
- Tax breaks for port-area investments: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would let the Maritime Administrator and the Navy designate up to 100 census tracts as Maritime Prosperity Zones. Those tracts would be treated like Opportunity Zones for five years after designation. Tax-advantaged investment would need to be used substantially in specified ma…
- Student maritime payments tax-free: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would exclude from gross income student incentive payments made under the specified maritime student agreement. The exclusion would apply only to payments made after December 31, 2025 and only to students who enter the listed agreement.
- Tax-free maritime security payments: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would exclude certain maritime security payments from gross income for tax years after enactment. Taxpayers could not also claim deductions or credits for the same expenses, and the taxpayer's basis in property would be reduced by the excluded amount to avoid double benefits.
- Changes to ship construction funds: mixed, medium. If enacted, the bill would change rules for Merchant Marine Capital Construction Funds. Deposits and permitted income sources would be expanded. The fund term would shorten to 15 years and staged withdrawals would apply in years 16–20 (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%). Withdrawals could be used for vessel…
- New vessel rules and fuel tax parity: mixed, medium. If enacted, the bill would tighten which vessels qualify for tax elections and agreements. Vessels would need specific size, flag, and U.S.-management tests and must enter emergency preparedness or contingency agreements. The bill would redefine qualifying shipping activities to the carriage of goo…

## Related bills

- 119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025
- 119-s-524: Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025
- 119-s-3267: ASAP Act
- 119-s-1032: Major Richard Star Act
- 119-s-1547: America the Beautiful Act

## Sources
- [119-s-1536 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1536)

## Related
- [119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1541)
- [119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1241)
- [119-s-524: Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-524)
- [119-s-3267: ASAP Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3267)
- [119-s-1032: Major Richard Star Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1032)
- [119-s-1547: America the Beautiful Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1547)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1536 (as of 2025-12-21).