Beyond Warships: The Unifying Power of the SHIPS for America Act

Key Points and Summary on SHIPS for America Act – The bipartisan SHIPS for America Act is presented as more than just a legislative proposal; it’s a potential catalyst for national unity. The act aims to revitalize America’s declining shipbuilding capacity, which is a critical national security issue for deterring China and maintaining a 355-ship Navy.

-By investing in domestic manufacturing and creating thousands of blue-collar jobs and apprenticeship programs, the bill focuses on core issues with overwhelming bipartisan public support.

-At a time of deep political fracture, the act provides a common cause that could begin to stitch a divided America back together by focusing on shared values and national interests.

The SHIPS for America Act: The Bipartisan Bill Everyone Can Agree On

In the last few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside a Pentacostalist in Mississippi, a Democrat in Alabama, a MAGA Republican in Massachusetts (yes, they exist), a shipyard executive in Oregon, an academic in New York City, a farmboy from Indiana, a retired admiral from Iowa, a veteran from Ohio, a bipartisan set of congressional and senate staffers, and one guy from Minnesota whose job I don’t fully understand.

To state the obvious, these people have wildly divergent political beliefs from one another. More than a few of them probably think that someone like me — a moderate pragmatist — is basically the washing machine of American politics: useful but boring. Yet all of these people could agree with me and with each other on one core belief.

The bipartisan SHIPS for America Act is good for America. My experience trying to build support for it has me going a step further: The SHIPS for America Act could start to stitch together a deeply fractured nation.

That seems a mammoth claim, so some background is in order. America’s lack of shipbuilding capacity is a major national security issue. As we cannot tap into economies of scale and do not have some of the best shipbuilding technologies and processes, America’s warships cost far more and take far longer to complete than they otherwise should.  Without dramatically improving domestic shipbuilding, there is no realistic path to meeting America’s goal of a 355-ship Navy. Without an adequate navy, America will struggle to deter and, if necessary, defeat China in its efforts to conquer Taiwan.

The SHIPS for America Act, then, would help us build our shipbuilding capacity that would, in turn, help us build the navy we need. It will also help our economy. It could ultimately create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs for the blue-collar workers whom our economy otherwise leaves behind. It would create job training programs so these people do not get saddled with debt. It would bring economic growth to otherwise hard-luck regions like the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes Region, and tough port cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Yet its most fundamental value is more basic: American unity. The SHIPS for America Act (which is consciously and loudly bipartisan) leans hard into issues where the vast majority of Americans agree with each other, even across party lines.

For instance, it is critical for our military, and over 60% of both Democrats and Republicans have a favorable view of our armed forces.

It would expand job training and apprenticeship programs, which 88% of Democrats and 82% of Republicans support.

It would increase American manufacturing capacity, which 80% of Americans believe the U.S. should support.

It provides investment tax credits, which 63% of Americans support.

The bill, then, both delivers on policies Americans want to see and, just as critically, focuses Americans on the big issues where they agree.

That’s critical to the long-term viability of America itself. The only force on Earth strong enough to destroy America is America itself. America’s bloodiest war, after all, was between Americans. Our military might means no nation would dream of invading us, yet a quarter of Americans support their state seceding from the Union.

Over 60% of Republicans have a very unfavorable view of Democrats; Democrats return the favor, as 54% have a very unfavorable view of Republicans.

I refuse to believe that’s who Americans are at heart, especially when we agree on so much. We want to get along. We want to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our countrymen. We want what’s good for America. That a Pentacostalist from Mississippi and an academic from New York could stand in lockstep proves that, for all the attention on our differences, our similarities are far greater.

The SHIPS for America Act just gives us the chance to acknowledge it.

About the Author: Neal Urwitz

Neal Urwitz served as a speechwriter for and advisor to the Secretary of the Navy from 2021-2023. He is currently a public relations executive in Washington.