{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-at-hudson-institute-senators-kelly-and-young-discuss-their-ships-for-america-act/", "ICYMI: At\u00a0Hudson Institute,\u00a0Senators\u00a0Kelly and Young\u00a0Discuss Their\u00a0SHIPS for America Act", "2026-09-18", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "AZ", "Mark Kelly", "K000377", "www.kelly.senate.gov", "markkelly", "https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Kelly: \u201cWhen I got here to the Senate in 2020, one of the problems I wanted to try to solve is this national security problem and economic security problem of not having a robust shipbuilding and shipping capacity to get stuff across the oceans.\u201d\n\nIn case you missed it, Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Todd Young (R-IN) participated in a fireside chat to discuss their SHIPS for America Act at the Hudson Institute\u2019s \u201cFixing Shipping and Shipbuilding: Plotting the Course Ahead\u201d event. Kelly spoke about how the legislation would revitalize America\u2019s shipbuilding industry and create good-paying skilled jobs while addressing a growing national security threat he has been working on since first being sworn into the Senate.\n\nSens. Kelly and Young speak at the Hudson Institute.\n\nWatch the full conversation here. See key excerpts below:\n\nOn his family\u2019s maritime history and why he introduced the SHIPS for America Act\u2026\n\n\u201cFor me this goes back over four decades. I graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1986\u2026 I also come from a little bit of a maritime background. My grandfather was on a Liberty ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean multiple times and survived during World War Two. My other grandfather, on my dad\u2019s side, was on a destroyer escort in the Pacific and the Atlantic, escorting Liberty ships\u2026This goes back generations in my family.\n\n\u201cWhen I was flying off of the USS midway in Operation Desert Storm, we basically moved a good portion of the U.S. Army, and the Marine Corps, and the Air Force, and we moved all that combat power overseas. At the time, we had about 400 ocean going merchant ships, U.S. flagged, U.S. crude. Now we\u2019re down to 80. So, when I got here to the Senate in 2020, one of the problems I wanted to try to solve is this national security problem and economic security problem of not having a robust ship building and shipping capacity to get stuff across the oceans. It\u2019s a national security problem for our country, and it\u2019s getting worse every single year.\n\n\u201cNow we\u2019re working across to get this across the finish line. And if we don\u2019t, and we wind up in a major conflict with a near-peer adversary, and you get beyond maybe the first weeks of a conflict and things aren\u2019t going well, we\u2019re going to be wishing that we solved this problem decades ago.\u201d\n\nOn a young woman welder whose life was transformed by the industry\u2026\n\n\u201cI was at the Hanwha Philly Shipyard, visiting and toured some of the training ships that are being built for the maritime academies\u2026Some of the South Koreans were so excited to have the opportunity to expand that shipyard.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll never forget this woman who was welding a hull together. And she was in her twenties. And I asked her what was she doing before she had this job? And she was a nanny for a family and she wasn\u2019t paid well. She liked the kid, she said. But it wasn\u2019t a career and she was kind of lost. And then she found this advertisement to learn how to weld and does not look like your typical welder. And she was like \u201cI think I could do this\u201d and just loved it. Was paid well, was able to buy a house. Not a lot of nannies out there and afford to buy a house. I imagine you can repeat that kind of story over and over again in an industry that is growing as we expand these, these opportunities. It could be transformative for so many people\u2019s lives.\u201d\n\nOn his call to action for everyone who wants to see this legislation pass\u2026\n\n\u201cMake phone calls, send letters, show up, tell people. This is the moment\u2026 This is an all hands on deck moment here for this legislation. Be relentless. Don\u2019t take no for an answer. Keep banging on the door and we can get this done. But it\u2019s going to take an entire team. I hate to say, this being from the Navy, but it\u2019s going to take an army.\u201d", 1, "2026-09-19T09:11:33Z", "2026-09-19T09:12:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.kelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-at-hudson-institute-senators-kelly-and-young-discuss-their-ships-for-america-act/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.344949170947075, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}