Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

19. Department of Transportation · Minor · Needs Congress

Expand the Defense Reserve Fleet to cover fleet capacity without the Jones Act

Partially done

638 19. Department of Transportation

“If there are genuine concerns about U.S. fleet capacity in the absence of the Jones Act, it would be possible to do so through an expansion of the Defense Reserve Fleet.”

What has happened

  1. Partially done

    The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 put money and authority behind an actual expansion: section 8090 makes $290,000,000 of Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy funds available until 2030 for the purchase of two used sealift vessels for the National Defense Reserve Fleet, reimbursable to MARAD's Ready Reserve Force account, and section 8094 makes $785,052,000 of Navy operation and maintenance funds available for any purpose related to the NDRF. That is a piece of the ask delivered. It is not `done`: the authority is permissive, no purchase has been recorded, and the Jones Act the Quote treats as the alternative is untouched.

  2. Attempted

    Congress directed the first new construction for the National Defense Reserve Fleet in years. Section 1656 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 requires the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the Director of the Missile Defense Agency, to complete the design of missile instrumentation range safety vessels for the NDRF so construction can begin in fiscal 2027, and section 1022 modifies the authority to purchase used vessels under the National Defense Sealift Fund. Design work subject to appropriations; no vessel added yet, and these are mission-specific vessels rather than the sealift capacity the Quote has in mind.

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

  • Boundary call, raised in the spot-check register: attempted is defensible for the 2026-02-03 event because section 8090 says the funds “may be used” and no purchase is on the record. It is recorded as partial because enacted purchase authority plus the money is a mechanism in place, which is the section 3 test.
  • Pairs with #1757 (major, repeal or reform the Jones Act, not started) and #1756 on the same printed page: the Quote is conditional on the Jones Act going, and it has not.
  • Also read the FY2027 Budget’s proposal for a new Maritime Security Trust Fund (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/budget_fy2027.pdf, DOT chapter). It funds maritime support programs, not the reserve fleet, so it is context rather than a step here.
Action
expand
Object
National Defense Reserve Fleet
ID
1758