ICYMI: Kelly Joins” War on the Rocks” Podcast to Talk Maritime Strategy, Bipartisan Effort to Revitalize American Shipbuilding

In case you missed it, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL-6) joined the podcast “War on the Rocks” with host Ryan Evans to discuss the state of America’s shipbuilding industry and their joint strategy to urgently rebuild the maritime sector and fortify the U.S.-flag fleet. In May, both Kelly and Waltz released a report entitled “Congressional Guidance for a National Maritime Strategy,” which details the threat of China over the oceans and offers a comprehensive vision for planning guidance, strategic objectives, and actionable steps to revitalize the nation’s maritime sector. 

“For me, this has been an issue I’ve been thinking about all the way back to 1982 when I showed up at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, and over time learned the sorry state of our maritime shipbuilding capacity and being able to move cargo—just the state of the merchant marine.” said Kelly. “The congressman and I realized that we both had this interest in trying to revitalize the merchant marine. You know, to have something that’s bipartisan and bicameral is usually the best path to success.” 

Kelly and Waltz have been pushing the administration to prioritize the U.S. maritime industry, writing an op-ed on the Wall Street Journal and discussing their report on Fox News, they also led a bipartisan, bicameral letter to President Biden calling on him to establish an interagency maritime policy director, designate maritime infrastructure as “critical infrastructure,” invoke the Defense Production Act for shipbuilding, and develop a whole-of-government maritime “de-risking” strategy to reduce dependency on Chinese maritime infrastructure and industry.  

Sen. Kelly earned his B.S. degree in marine engineering and nautical science from the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) and later an M.S. degree in aeronautical engineering from the United States Naval Postgraduate School. Sen. Kelly spent 25 years in the United States Navy as a pilot and is the first ever USMMA alumnus to serve in Congress. Last year, Sen. Kelly was elected chair of the USMMA Board of Visitors for the 118th Congress.   

You can listen to the full “War on the Rocks” episode here.