Congress·In Committee·H.R. 7900

Protecting Access to American Products Act

Shipping Rules: Waivers for Using Foreign Ships

Mar 12·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

Part of: Protecting Access to American Products Act

This bill is one vehicle in a longer effort. See the full story across every version.View effort →

Next up: A house committee

This bill is currently in the early stages of the legislative process after being sent to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. It is actively moving through the system, but no future meetings or votes have been scheduled yet. There is no companion bill listed for this proposal at this time.

Companion bill: Sen. Lee Introduces Protecting Access to American Products Act to Ease Shipping Restrictions →

Legislative Progress

House

Senate

President

Law

Unlikely to pass

While this bill aims to help supply chains, similar efforts to change shipping laws usually face strong opposition from labor unions and American shipbuilders.

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 7081 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 7081 (118th) →

Key Points

This bill allows companies to ask the government for a temporary pass to use foreign ships to move goods between American ports. Currently, a law called the Jones Act usually requires these goods to be carried only on ships built, owned, and operated by Americans.
To get a waiver, a company must prove that there are no American ships available to carry their specific products and that they made a good faith effort to find one. This is meant to prevent supply chain delays when U.S. ships are in short supply.
The government would have 60 days to approve or deny a request. If the government fails to respond in that time, the request is automatically granted for 30 days. This rule is designed to make sure the government does not ignore business needs.
Waivers would last for at least 30 days and could be extended if the shortage of American ships continues. The government must also notify Congress within 48 hours of any waiver request or approval to ensure the process is transparent.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Mar 12, 2026House

Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Mar 12, 2026

Introduced in House

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

No votes or news coverage recorded for this bill yet.

Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

Protecting Access to American Products Act

Bill NumberHR 7900

Congress119th Congress

ChamberHouse of Representatives

Latest ActionReferred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Data Sources

Congress.gov

Official legislative information

Read Full Bill Text

Sponsor

Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.