Page 8: of Marine News Magazine (July 2025)

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Insights

Washington Watch

Proposed Transfer of Deepwater Ports

Regulatory Authority is Ill-advised

By Jeffrey H. Lewis, Transportation and Trade Group, Cozen O’Connor

On March 5, 2025, was approved by the Senate by unanimous consent and the United States Senate passed an important bill to au- now awaits further action in the House of Representatives. thorize funding for our United States Coast Guard, after S. 524 is a relatively skinny bill by today’s standards, failing to do so in the previous Congress. S. 524, the Coast weighing in at a modest 437 pages (438 if you count the

Guard Authorization Act of 2025, would if enacted into pro forma slip at the very end). In addition to authorizing law authorize appropriations to fund the Coast Guard to- congressional spending on the Coast Guard for the current taling $30.45 billion for ? scal years 2025 and 2026. The and coming ? scal years, the legislation contains numerous bill is sponsored by Senate Commerce, Science, and Trans- provisions that would make changes and re? nements to portation Committee Chairman Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) current law, including to the Coast Guard’s organic statute and cosponsored by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), at Title 14, United States Code, federal shipping and navi-

Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI). It gation laws, and other related provisions of the U.S. Code © Picturellarious/AdobeStock 8 | MN July 2025