Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Cruz (for himself, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Sullivan, and Ms. …
Passed Senate (inferred from es version)
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025 authorizes over $15 billion in appropriations for the Coast Guard for fiscal years 2025 and 2026. It modernizes the agency's acquisition processes for vessels and equipment, improves personnel benefits and quality of life programs, strengthens infrastructure at Coast Guard facilities, and implements comprehensive reforms to address sexual assault and harassment prevention and response.
Who Benefits and How
Coast Guard personnel and their families benefit significantly through expanded family leave policies (including for reserve members), direct hire authority for medical and childcare positions, improved housing acquisition authorities, travel allowances for members stationed in Alaska, and enhanced behavioral health support programs. Defense contractors and shipbuilders, particularly those in the U.S., benefit from streamlined acquisition procedures for polar security cutters, floating drydocks, and icebreakers, with domestic construction requirements for drydocks. Great Lakes shipping industries benefit from mandated improvements to icebreaking services.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Federal taxpayers bear the cost of over $15 billion in authorized spending for FY 2025-2026. Coast Guard leadership faces significant new compliance and reporting requirements, particularly around sexual assault and harassment prevention, including mandatory policy reviews, expedited transfer processes for victims, and extensive congressional reporting. Commercial vessel operators face expanded maritime safety requirements related to cyber threats and foreign state threats.
Key Provisions
- Authorizes $11.3 billion for FY 2025 and $11.9 billion for FY 2026 for Coast Guard operations, plus $3.6 billion annually for acquisition, construction, and improvements
- Streamlines acquisition of polar security cutters and floating drydocks by exempting certain programs from standard acquisition requirements
- Creates a 5-year pilot program for Great Lakes icebreaking with 95% waterway availability targets
- Establishes direct hire authority for medical, childcare, and special agent positions to address personnel shortages
- Implements comprehensive sexual assault and harassment reforms including expedited transfers for victims, independent reviews, enhanced training, and strengthened accountability measures
- Requires tsunami preparedness plans for all Coast Guard properties in inundation zones
- Creates a college student precommissioning initiative for diverse recruitment
- Enhances maritime safety requirements to address cyber incidents and foreign state threats
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Authorizes appropriations for the Coast Guard for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, modernizes acquisition and personnel policies, strengthens infrastructure requirements, and implements reforms to address sexual assault and harassment prevention.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Modernize Coast Guard operations through increased funding, streamlined acquisitions, improved personnel benefits, and strengthened accountability for misconduct"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Coast Guard personnel (through improved benefits, housing, family leave, and behavioral health services)
- Defense contractors (through acquisition programs for vessels, aircraft, and drydocks)
- Shipbuilding industry (through domestic construction requirements for floating drydocks)
- Great Lakes shipping industry (through improved icebreaking services)
Likely Burden Bearers
- Federal taxpayers (through approximately + billion in authorizations for FY 2025-2026)
- Coast Guard leadership (through increased reporting and accountability requirements)
- Perpetrators of sexual assault/harassment (through strengthened enforcement and victim protections)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating (typically Secretary of Homeland Security)
- "the_commandant"
- → Commandant of the Coast Guard
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating
- "the_commandant"
- → Commandant of the Coast Guard
- "chief_of_naval_operations"
- → Chief of Naval Operations (for Polar Security Cutter coordination)
- "the_commandant"
- → Commandant of the Coast Guard
- "administrator_noaa"
- → Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating
- "the_commandant"
- → Commandant of the Coast Guard
- "secretary_of_defense"
- → Secretary of Defense (for reserve component family leave policies)
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating
- "the_commandant"
- → Commandant of the Coast Guard
Note: The Secretary generally refers to the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating (typically Secretary of Homeland Security), but Section 154 also references the Secretary of Defense for reserve component policies
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The Commandant of the Coast Guard
A capital investment that is solely intended to extend the service life and address obsolescence of components or systems of a particular capability or asset
Has the meaning given such term in section 1171 of title 14 (major acquisition programs exceeding certain thresholds)
Has the meaning given such term in section 1171 of title 14
Any event, such as an earthquake, volcanic eruption, submarine landslide, coastal rockfall, or other event, with the magnitude to cause a tsunami
A member of the Coast Guard who is a member of the selected reserve entitled to compensation under section 206 of title 37, or the individual ready reserve attending sufficient periods of inactive-duty training
Equipment that is (1) constructed in the United States; and (2) capable of meeting the lifting and maintenance requirements of a vessel that is at least 418 feet in length with a gross tonnage of 4,500 gross tons
Any real property owned, operated, or leased by the Coast Guard within a tsunami inundation zone
A structure or earthen mound designated as a place of refuge in the event of a tsunami, with sufficient height to elevate evacuees above the tsunami inundation depth, designed and constructed to resist tsunami load effects
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology