Congress·In Committee·S. 4758

Incentivizing the Expansion of U.S. Ports Act

Port Expansion: Removing Dredging Restrictions

Jun 11·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

Part of: U.S. Port Dredging and Maritime Regulation Reform

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

Next up: A senate committee

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is the next group to review this bill. It has not moved since June 11, 2026, when it was first sent to the committee. Most bills do not receive a committee vote, so this proposal remains in the early stages of the lawmaking process.

Legislative Progress

Senate

House

President

Law

Unlikely to pass

This bill challenges long-standing shipping laws that have strong support from labor unions and many lawmakers. Similar efforts to relax these rules have historically failed to pass.

How we got here

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

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from S. 3434 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
S. 3434 (118th) →

Key Points

This bill aims to make it cheaper and faster to expand American ports by changing old shipping laws. Currently, ships used for dredging must be built in the United States. Dredging is the process of digging out the bottom of a waterway. This bill would allow ports to use ships built in other countries for these projects.
The plan also removes certain rules about how dredged material, like sand and mud pulled from the water, is moved from one place to another. By cutting these requirements, the bill hopes to increase the number of companies that can bid on port projects. This could lead to lower costs for taxpayers and port authorities.
Supporters believe this will help U.S. ports handle larger cargo ships and compete better with international ports. Many modern dredging ships are built overseas. Allowing them to work in U.S. waters could speed up projects that currently face long delays due to a lack of available American ships.

Impact Analysis

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

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Jun 11, 2026Senate

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.

Jun 11, 2026

Introduced in Senate

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

No votes, news coverage, or related bills recorded for this bill yet.

Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

Incentivizing the Expansion of U.S. Ports Act

Bill NumberS 4758

Congress119th Congress

ChamberSenate

Latest ActionRead twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Data Sources

Congress.gov

Official legislative information

Read Full Bill Text

Sponsor

Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.