The Trump Administration’s FY’20 budget, released on March 11, calls on Congress to fully fund the Maritime Security Program at its Congressionally-authorized level of $300 million. This amount will provide each privately-owned militarily useful commercial vessel enrolled in the program with a stipend of $5 million in FY’20.
As noted by the Administration, “The MSP fleet strengthens national security and allows the maritime Administration and the U.S. merchant marine to meet its DoD mission requirement while providing assured access to global supply chains.” The Administration’s budget request further stated that “The MSP fleet provides employment for 2,400 highly trained, qualified U.S. merchant mariners who are critical to manning the U.S. Government-owned surge fleet in times of war or national emergency. Additionally, the MSP program supports more than 5,000 shoreside maritime industry jobs.”