Cantwell, Cruz Coast Guard Reauthorization Bill Unanimously Passes Senate

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tonight, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the bipartisan Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2025 that would reauthorize $30.45 billion for the U.S. Coast Guard for Fiscal Years 2025 and 2026. The bill was introduced last month by U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chair of the Committee, as well as Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). The bill now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.

Ahead of the bill’s passage, Sen. Cantwell spoke on the Senate floor and underscored that the legislation “provides the tools that our Coast Guard needs now to protect our shores, keep our maritime [industry] moving.”   

“The Coast Guard is also the sole operator of icebreakers in our polar regions, and they are our primary force charged with the stopping of pirate fishing from China, Russia and other dark fishing fleets that are stealing American fishing jobs” Sen. Cantwell continued.  “The issues in the Arctic are real…and this bill will help address that.  Passage of this measure now will enable us to further provide the Coast Guard additional assets like ice breakers…and this legislation also strengthens each of the Coast Guard's missions and authorizes a 30% budget increase to support that workforce.”

The legislation includes historic protections for sexual assault and harassment, boosts workforce development programs and availability of affordable housing, increases funding to help U.S. Coast Guard deliver on critical priorities such as icebreakers and 52-foot heavy-weather lifeboats, raises penalties for abandoned and derelict vessels and encourages more collaboration with Tribes.

The full text of the U.S. Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025 is available HERE. 

Sen. Cantwell championed many of the bill’s provisions critical to the State of Washington:

Expands Affordable Housing Opportunities: Allows the Coast Guard to acquire housing that is available both on the market and in new housing construction programs. This is particularly important in coastal areas -- like Cape Disappointment, Grays Harbor, and Port Angeles -- where Coast Guard families face a difficult time accessing affordable, quality housing due to competition with seasonal rentals and other challenges associated with remote units. This bill also expands the Coast Guard's ability to enter into long-term leases for medical facilities, child development centers, and training facilities to expand access to services for Coast Guard families while reducing administrative overhead expenses and allowing for additional improvements to these facilities.

Increases Federal Funding to Deliver on Icebreakers and Heavy Weather Lifeboats: The legislation increases authorized funding by 30% compared to 2024 appropriated funding levels, which will help the Coast Guard deliver on critical priorities such as polar icebreakers, 52-foot heavy-weather lifeboats, and other priority acquisition programs.  Seattle will be home for the Coast Guard’s fleet of 3 polar icebreakers.

Creates the First-Ever Tribal Advisor: Creates a new senior position within the Coast Guard to advise the Commandant and other Coast Guard leaders on how the Coast Guard can work more closely with Tribes. The new Special Advisor would also be charged with ensuring the Coast Guard upholds trust responsibilities to tribal governments, improving tribal engagement and consultation activities, and ensuring that Tribes have a voice on Coast Guard programs that impact tribes including oil spill preparedness and response, fisheries oversight, and the protection of natural resources.

Boosts Local Tribal Partnerships to Improve Conservation: Provides the Coast Guard with new authorities to support habitat conservation and other resilience projects with state, local, and tribal governments. This important new authority would ensure tribes and other organizations can partner with the Coast Guard to protect treaty fishing rights and maintain access to cultural and natural resources.

Reauthorizes the Whale Desk: Extends the Whale Desk at Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound by two years, through FY2028. Authored by Senator Cantwell in the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2022, the “Whale Desk” at Sector Puget Sound gives vessel operators and mariners near real-time data about the location of whales to reduce encounters that disturb whales, including noise pollution and ship strikes. The pilot program also includes a “hotline” where callers can report whale sightings in real time. The data collected will be valuable for researchers who track whale migration patterns. Sen. Cantwell helped celebrate the launch of the Whale Desk in February 2024.

Supports the Commercial Fishing and Maritime Industries: Continues to authorize the use of a satellite tracking system to mark fishing gear locations, which ensures gear is not lost and avoids potential damage by derelict gear. It also supports fishing vessels engaging in temporary towing operations as part of salmon hatchery development in Alaska.  The bill also creates new training and credentialing opportunities for qualified mariners, veterans, and the general public seeking to become mariners. It also expedites processing times for merchant mariner licensing documents to help close this critical workforce gap.

Maps Arctic Maritime Routes: The Bering Sea is expected to see increased fishing, commercial, and other vessel traffic over the coming decades. As a key international trade and maritime route, this bill requires an analysis of projected traffic in the Bering Strait, and the emergency response capabilities and infrastructure needed to support this increased vessel traffic and prevent oil spills in the Bering Sea and the Arctic.

Boosts International Pacific Cooperation: Requires the Coast Guard to develop a plan to increase international training opportunities in the Pacific, including with the Taiwan Coast Guard. This coordination will strengthen American relations, combat illegal fishing, and boost international security in the Pacific.

Cracks Down on Abandoned Vessels: Improves oversight of derelict and abandoned vessels by requiring the Coast Guard to develop and maintain an inventory list of these vessels to improve tracking, management, and coordination between federal, state, tribal, and other relevant entities. It authorizes a new federal penalty of $500 a day for abandoning vessels. Abandoned and derelict vessels pose unique and costly threats to coastal communities and ecosystems by leaking pollutants and imperiling marine traffic.

Protects Personnel from Illicit Drug/Fentanyl Exposure: As the Coast Guard carries out important drug interdiction missions to stop the flow of illegal drugs, this bill requires all installations to maintain a supply of naloxone or similar medication to treat opioid or fentanyl overdoses or exposure by Coast Guard members and the public in search and rescue or response calls. Fishing vessels are not currently required to carry naloxone on board though fishing crews are 5x more likely suffer fatal overdoses compared to the general population.

Requires Stronger Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment (SASH) Prevention and Response: The bill would establish or update numerous Coast Guard and Academy authorities and programs to improve reporting, oversight, prevention, and accountability related to sexual misconduct. These provisions were drafted in response to Operation Fouled Anchor, which revealed gross mishandling of sexual assault and sexual harassment cases of U.S. Coast Guard personnel.  A full breakdown of these protections is available HERE.

Supporting Coast Guard Families:

• Creates the First Vice Admiral of Personnel: To support the more than 40,000 active service members, the bill establishes a new Vice Admiral leadership position solely focused on supporting the needs of personnel and their families, from housing to health care, investments in childcare, and improving recruitment and training programs.
• Jump Starts Hiring of Health and Family Service Providers Across Entire Service: Provides direct hiring authority to swiftly fill more than a hundred vacancies, including behavioral and mental health professionals, medical specialists, childcare service providers, housing supervisors, criminal investigators, and other positions to protect the health and wellbeing of Coast Guard members and their families. It also adds two new telemedicine rooms at the Coast Guard Academy.
• Improves College-to-Service Career Pathways: Updates the College Student Pre-Commissioning Program to allow more colleges and universities to participate and to increase recruitment of students interested in commissioning into a Coast Guard career. 

Prepares Tsunami Evacuation Plans: Requires the development of tsunami evacuation and preparedness plans for Coast Guard units in tsunami zones, including across the West Coast and Pacific Northwest. It also requires the Coast Guard to consider vertical evacuation as a lifesaving option for Coast Guard members.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

• Supports NOAA Corps Officers: To support the hundreds of NOAA’s commissioned officers, the bill makes improvements to personnel management, education assistance programs, pilot recruitment programs, and more. NOAA Corps members help manage maritime research, support disaster response, and monitor weather forecasting including hurricanes and atmospheric rivers, as well as performing other cutting-edge weather forecast and research needs.
• Modernizes NOAA Vessel Fleet: Authorizes replacement and modernization of the NOAA research vessel fleet and improves oversight of the fleet, which helps maintain our nation’s weather and scientific buoy network, conducts fisheries research, maps the ocean floor including in the Arctic, and supports other important oceanographic and conservation priorities.
• Removes Aging NOAA Vessels: Allows NOAA to use the proceeds of obsolete vessel sales to support the acquisition or repair of other NOAA vessels to help make the fleet more resilient in the future.

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