# H.R. 2035 (119th): American Cargo for American Ships Act

American Cargo for American Ships Act This bill requires 100% of equipment, materials, and commodities procured, furnished, or financed by the Department of Transportation (DOT) and transported on ocean vessels to be transported on U.S.-flagged commercial vessels. (Current cargo preference laws require that a minimum percentage of federally financed ocean cargo be transported on U.S.-flagged commercial vessels. For civilian agencies and agricultural cargo, the minimum is generally 50%.) Specifically, the bill imposes the requirement on DOT (for cargo it contracts for or procures for itself) and recipients of DOT funding (for cargo DOT has financed with federal funds or advanced funds for the recipient to obtain). As under current cargo preference laws, the requirement applies to the extent those vessels are available at fair and reasonable rates for U.S.-flagged commercial vessels, in a manner that will ensure fair and reasonable participation of U.S.-flagged commercial vessels by geographic area.

## How this bill is scored

Tier: no Tier 1 record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Lane: cargo_preference. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: commerce_support. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: economic_policy. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: maritime_commerce. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Tier 1 sign-off: no record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Stored polarity: mixed. Only tags the rules mark scoreable on a mixed bill are scored. A yea can draw a penalty or a credit according to the tag. A nay on a tag scored as good can draw a penalty.
Roll 157: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass. Vote type: final_passage.
Polarity rationale: Reviewed enrichment (llm_import) polarity: The bill is an ordinary economic and maritime policy measure. It pursues plausible goods such as a domestic shipping base and fair participation, but it also raises prudential concerns about higher federal costs and reduced competition. Nothing in the summary directly advances moral harm or directly restrains one, so the classification is mixed rather than good or evil.
Theological note: The measure concerns fair dealing in commerce and the stewardship of public funds, which Scripture addresses through honest weights and just wages. Its relevance is mainly prudential: whether preferring domestic shipping serves the common good or raises costs to taxpayers. It does not directly advance or restrain a named moral evil.

## Recorded votes

Roll 157: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass. Yea 373 · Nay 14 · Other 44.

HTML: https://justmeasure.org/bill/hr-2035-119/