A congressional hearing for shipping nerds

 A wholesome break from detailed war coverage.

This video includes:

--history of US Maritime administration.

--Discussion of aging stock in the US cargo fleet and the role of these ships as adjunct to US military capacity

--discussion of the possibility that nuclear powered ships can feed (carbon free) electricity into the grid on land.

--Discussion of DOGE including Jones Act waivers are being handled by the DoD instead of the maritime administration. The Jones Act requires vessels moving cargo between US ports to have US crews, US flag, and US-built construction. Waivers are currently sought without any kind of check whether there might be Jones Act compliant vessels available. The maritime administration does not even get notification of the waivers until 10 days after travel has been completed. 

Bottom line: it would be worthwhile for someone more of a budget nerd than RantWoman to sit with this video, consider things that do actually need funding and other concerning policy points. The, don't even excuse me, Secretary of #WarCrimes keeps going off with grandiose visions of more air craft carriers and who knows what else when there are lots of not-sexy basics that probably add a lot more value for both commercial shipping and of course the military. So please, budget nerds, have at it.

Read the description of the video for a more detailed summary and additional resources.