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Advocating on Behalf of the Sea Services
The work of the Navy League Legislative Affairs team has a direct impact on federal legislation. That is the highest level of government in the most powerful government on the planet. It is not false to say that what we do affects the world. Our work safeguards American national security, it protects our allies and the free peoples of the world, and it ensures that our adversaries do not succeed in their efforts to harm our nation, our people, our economy, or our global influence. We hope that you will join us as we advocate on behalf of the needs of the sea services to ensure that our men and women in uniform have the ships, weapon systems, equipment, and trained personnel that they need to defend America’s interests for decades to come.
For more information, please visit our Legislative Affairs Action Center, available only to Navy League members.
Current Legislative Asks
U.S. Navy
Navy Shipbuilding and Conversion Budget: The Navy League strongly supports a U.S. Navy Shipbuilding and Conversion Budget of more than $30 billion annually to meet the future shipbuilding goal and to achieve a fleet structure capable of meeting the challenges of Great Power Competition.
U.S. Marine Corps
Building the Future Marine Corps: We are asking Congress to support the Commandant of the Marine Corps as the service builds Marine Force 2030 to be better prepared for Great Power Competition. Beginning in fiscal year 2022 the Marine Corps will accelerate the transition to a leaner, more distributed force and begin divesting from heavier and legacy systems.
U.S. Coast Guard
Coast Guard Operations and Support Budget: The Coast Guard is over worked and under-funded. Ask Congress to provide the resources to meet the even-growing demands the service faces as it performs its 11 statutory missions and remains Semper Paratus — Always Ready to protect our shores!
U.S. Merchant Marine
Jones Act: The Navy League opposes efforts to repeal the Merchant Mariner Act of 1920. Also known as the Jones Act, this cabotage law requires vessels moving cargo between U.S. ports be American built, American owned and American crewed. The Jones Act provides jobs, stimulates shipbuilding, and defends national security by providing our armed forces with sealift capacity.
Reports
2023-2024 Maritime Policy Statement
The Navy League’s Maritime Policy statement is produced by the organization’s Maritime Policy Committee. The analyses and recommendations therein are derived from multiple sources, including the expertise and decades of experience of our members, open-source materials and public information from the seagoing services.
The views expressed in this document are those of the Navy League of the United States and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard or Maritime Administration.
The Navy League of the United States exists to educate the American public about the importance of the sea services to include the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and U.S.- flag Merchant Marine.
Get educated on our issues by downloading our policy statement for 2022-2023.
2021-2022 Maritime Policy Statement
Our members are experts on the issues driving decision-making on our sea services. Every other year, we analyze and recommend a way forward, so our legislators have a clear playbook on the best way to advocate on behalf of the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and U.S.-flag Merchant Marine.
We are a maritime nation, and we must make the right investments in our sea services for the future.
Get educated on our issues by downloading our policy statement for 2021-2022.
From the Outside Looking In: America and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea serves as the culmination of a decades-long negotiation process overhauling numerous maritime agreements and generations of widely accepted norms and standards in the maritime domain. The treaty includes provisions on conservation, resource allocation and the freedom of the high seas. It came into being in 1982, nine years after the work of the Law of the Sea Convention began, and efforts to revise the treaty would continue until 1994. It was signed by 168 parties, serves as the foundation of international maritime law and replaces the antiquated 1958 Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea. Although the United States called for the negotiation of a new sea treaty in 1970 under the Nixon administration, when the treaty was presented in 1982 the United States rejected
it.
This white paper will provide both sides of the argument
over ratification with great detail and balanced consideration. After all arguments are assessed, the Navy League leans in favor of ratifying UNCLOS, particularly given the strong and consistent support of military leaders.
State by State Defense Report
This report seeks to underscore the importance that sea service industrial jobs play in state economies across America. From Maine to Oklahoma, millions of jobs rely on the maritime defense industrial base, not to mention critical advancements in research and development, creation of academic partnerships, expansion of employment opportunities in the STEM fields, and establishment of local innovation hubs.
The benefits of these industries to local and state economies cannot be overstated, as you will see in the following pages.
Sealift Capacity Report
The nation’s ability to deploy, project, and sustain forces and ensure secure commercial supply chains during conflicts with peer competitors depends on a sufficiently large and active oceangoing U.S.-flag fleet operating in foreign and domestic trades, along with an adequate pool of skilled U.S. citizen merchant mariners to crew each commercial and government owned reserve sealift vessel. Our ability to build and maintain a shipbuilding industrial base to construct oceangoing ships and naval auxiliaries depends on national policies and legislation. This white paper proposes numerous legislative options that would have profound impacts on U.S. sealift capacity.
Sealift Capacity Report
The nation’s ability to deploy, project, and sustain forces and ensure secure commercial supply chains during conflicts with peer competitors depends on a sufficiently large and active oceangoing U.S.-flag fleet operating in foreign and domestic trades, along with an adequate pool of skilled U.S. citizen merchant mariners to crew each commercial and government owned reserve sealift vessel. Our ability to build and maintain a shipbuilding industrial base to construct oceangoing ships and naval auxiliaries depends on national policies and legislation. This white paper proposes numerous legislative options that would have profound impacts on U.S. sealift capacity.
Commercial Shipping Report
For the last 100 years, the United States has had safer inland waterways and sealift capabilities that rest on the foundations of the Jones Act.
With China’s expansionist claims, there is an imminent shift threatening the United States’ maritime dominance.
Read more about the Navy League of the United States’ research into where we are now as a maritime nation and what steps we must take to ensure our safety, security and sealift for the next 100 years in “China’s Use of Maritime for Global Power Demands a Strong Commitment to American Maritime.”
Narco-Submarines:
The Key to Modernizing Resupply Strategies
As tensions grow in the Taiwan Strait, U.S. President Joe Biden has asserted that the United States would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. The avoidance of engaged conflict would be in both countries’ best interests. However, with the PRC’s growing military capabilities in areas long-dominate by the U.S., the nation must prepare
for this possibility through modernizing resupply strategies. Current resupply strategies to support small units within enemy territory would hinder the U.S. due to inefficient airlift cargo capacity and lethality risks associated with sending manned ships to enemy-dominated territory. This White Paper proposes the development of small, unmanned, inexpensive semisubmersibles modeled after “narco-subs” (customized
submarines utilized by drug-smugglers) to resupply U.S. units in the vicinity of Taiwan.
Upcoming Events
Grassroots Outreach
Our 30,000-person-strong membership advocates on behalf of the sea services both in our communities and on Capitol Hill. Through our biennial Fly In event in Washington, D.C., our members get in-person time with their representatives, and during the year, Navy Leaguers meet with their representatives in their home district. We also offer online training for Navy League members to support our grassroots mission.
Donations
When you donate to the Navy League, you help support our activities that educate members of Congress and their staffs about sea service issues and provide opportunities for discussion and engagement.