Kelly, Rubio, Scott Introduce Bill Protecting Maritime Ports From Adversarial Access

Today, Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced the Strategic Port Reporting Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would require the U.S. Department of Defense to draft an interagency strategy report to proactively counter the growing threat of the People's Republic of China (PRC) over the oceans.

The PRC has been actively expanding and establishing their global maritime network. Currently, multiple Chinese companies possess ownership shares to key ports in the U.S. and around the world. This investment is a significant risk to our national security interests and to America's access to trade, global supply chains, and overall maneuverability in the maritime domain.

"America has always been a seafaring nation, relying on trade to fuel our economy," said Kelly. "This bill is critical to securing our ports overseas from Chinese influence that threatens our economy and our national security."

"Florida is home to many of our nation's key ports. Our nation can't allow Communist China to invest in geographically and economically strategic ports. We must prevent, at all costs, the chance for our adversaries to use our resources against us," said Rubio.

"Protecting the ports, seaports and infrastructure of the U.S., our allies and trading partners around the globe is critical to our economic independence, U.S. national security and the security of our allies. As our nation faces threats from adversaries around the world and Communist China continues its quest for global dominance, we must eliminate any ownership, influence, or access the Communist Chinese regime may have over our allies' infrastructure and data that can be used against us. Our bill requires the Department of Defense to identify our most critical ports worldwide to ensure continued U.S. trade and military operations and develop a plan to keep them secure from our enemies. This overdue action is essential to protecting American trade and security," said Scott.

"As China continues its military aggression in the Indo-Pacific and expands its economic influence across the globe, it is more important than ever that the United States has a plan to counter China's investments in strategic foreign ports while ensuring resilience of U.S.-aligned ports. I'm proud to introduce the Strategic Ports Reporting Act, which will take critical steps toward ensuring America's national security and economic interests as the Chinese Communist Party works to broaden its global dominance both economically and militarily," said Congressman Rob Wittman (R-VA-1).

Background:

In May, Kelly and Rubio, along with Representatives Mike Waltz (R-FL-6) and John Garamendi (D-CA-8), released their Congressional Guidance for a National Maritime Strategy, a bipartisan report that provides a comprehensive vision for planning guidance, strategic objectives, and actionable steps to revitalize the nation's maritime sector.

Earlier this year, Kelly and Waltz led a bipartisan, bicameral letter urging President Biden to strengthen the United States' maritime power. The group of legislators called 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.

Kelly and Waltz also penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in May urging U.S. maritime industry revitalization.