Strengthening Maritime Defense: Funding and Reform

For decades the United States Navy’s and Coast Guard’s fleets have been shrinking despite their increasing necessity. From the Gulf of America to the  Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and beyond, US maritime forces have had to defend America and its allies with older and fewer ships and aircraft. The recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act will inject billions of dollars into the US shipbuilding and maritime industrial base, which can help to restore US Navy and Coast Guard capacity. But turning funding into capability will not be easy. The US maritime industry needs to address worker shortages, crumbling infrastructure, and inadequate commercial demand.

Join Hudson Senior Fellows Bryan Clark and Michael Roberts for a discussion with government and industry leaders about the challenges the US Navy and Coast Guard face amid modernization efforts and how new legislation and regulation can help restore America’s maritime superiority.