Young: China’s Actions Show Why We Need to Build American Ships

Click here or above to watch Senator Young's floor speech.

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) spoke on the Senate floor about recent reports that indicate China is retrofitting cargo ships with deadly weapons, including long-range strike and surface-to-air missiles, drone launching systems, and radar and tracking systems.

In his remarks, Young said these actions by the Chinese show why America must make more commercial ships, so that our country isn't reliant on China. Young called on Congress to pass his SHIPS for America Act, legislation that would revitalize the United States shipbuilding and commercial maritime industries.

To watch the full floor speech, click here.

Senator Young's full remarks, as prepared for delivery:

Mr. President, Americans are aware that many of the products we buy and use are manufactured in China.

Fewer may know that most of those Chinese goods come across the ocean and into our ports on Chinese ships, whether they are flying the Chinese flag, owned or operated by Chinese companies, or even built in Chinese shipyards.

But what may come as a shock is that those same ships could also carry deadly weapons.

Hidden among the shipping containers carrying appliances, clothing, and household goods might well be missile launchers and drone launching systems.

Arriving undetected, they could target our cities, destroy our infrastructure, and kill our citizens.

This a possibility American leaders must prepare for now.

Naval analysts confirm China is retrofitting cargo ships with deadly weapons: long-range strike and surface-to-air missiles, drone launching systems, and radar and tracking systems.

A large percentage of these vessels coming in and out of our ports are owned and operated by firms with direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

What if one of these ships arrived in one of America's largest ports?

The "best" case scenario: our intelligence community would detect the weapons, enabling the Coast Guard to intercept and seize the Chinese ship.

The far more alarming possibility: An armed Chinese cargo carrier slips in-undetected-and launches devastating attacks on the port, destroying vital infrastructure and killing hundreds, and possibly many more.

The Port of Houston is one of the largest by tonnage in our country.

It is home to the world's largest petrochemical complexes and a quarter of America's oil-refining capacity.

The explosions caused by a Chinese attack on the port would send clouds of carcinogens into the air and over nearby communities.

Meanwhile, America's energy supply would be devastated, causing painful shortages and draining the economy of millions of dollars a day.

A similar disaster could play out at any of our other major ports - Los Angeles, our hub for trans-Pacific trade, or Hampton Roads, Virginia, the East Coast's deepest harbor and home to the world's largest naval base.

Neither of these situations are inevitable…

If we cut our reliance on Chinese vessels and make American ships again.

The U.S. was once home to the world's largest commercial fleet, numbering nearly 4,000 ships.

Today, we manufacture only a handful of commercial vessels per year. China builds over a thousand.

In total, the U.S. has fewer than 100 oceangoing commercial vessels.

China has nearly 6,000, the largest fleet in the world.

Letting our maritime industrial base continue to rust is a great risk.

It does not just give China control over global supply chains and levers to constrain American policy options.

It presents the Chinese Communist Party opportunities every day to sneak weapons into our cities.

We have a choice: do nothing and invite a potential economic and national security disaster…

Or rebuild our fleet, end our dependance on Chinese ships, and open a new era of American shipbuilding.

I chose the latter. I chose restoring American maritime dominance.

The SHIPS for America Act is the best way to accomplish it.

The bill will encourage the construction of new ships and shipyards through tax incentives.

It will deliver deregulation and permitting reform to reduce costs and speed the delivery of new vessels.

It also will modernize training programs at our maritime academies and recruit a new generation of mariners.

And the SHIPS Act will establish a Maritime Security Trust Fund to finance these programs, plus an expansion of the U.S.-flagged international fleet to 250 ships by the mid-2030s.

We have a strong champion in President Trump, whose Maritime Action Plan is consistent with the bill.

China is retrofitting its commercial ships into covert warships. The evidence is clear.

So too is the risk of allowing these vessels to dominate global trade and fill our ports because we have no ships of our own.

But we have a plan to protect our ports and people, to build and launch a new fleet, manned by American mariners, flying the Stars and Stripes.

Congress should pass the SHIPS Act without delay.