GOP reconciliation bill includes over $9 billion for new icebreaker ships

Ice floes surround the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy in the Arctic Ocean on July 29, 2017. (Photo by Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Reconciliation legislation worming its way through the Hill includes over $9 billion in funding for two major icebreaker programs, as the US races to rebuild its fleet to operate in ice-packed Arctic waters.

The money is divided into two pots for the Coast Guard: $4.3 billion for the larger Polar Security Cutters and nearly $5 billion for medium-sized Arctic Security Cutters as well as “domestic” icebreakers, according to a reconciliation package [PDF] approved by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Wednesday.

The potential influx of funding, highlighted Monday by USNI before being only slightly altered by lawmakers during mark-up [PDF], comes as the White House has made reconstituting America’s icebreaker fleet a priority. The US currently operates a single heavy polar icebreaker, a medium polar icebreaker, a recently acquired converted commercial polar icebreaking vessel, and more than two dozen smaller icebreaking-capable vessels down to tugboats that operate in the Great Lakes and elsewhere in North America.

The Polar Security Cutter program aims to add four or five large icebreakers, while the Arctic Security Cutter program is expected to add another four or five medium-sized ships. President Donald Trump has said the US wants to acquire 40-something vessels in total, likely referring to also updating the fleet of smaller ships that sail North American waters.

The first of the new Polar Security Cutters is under contract with Bollinger Shipyards, which announced today it has received approval from the Coast Guard to begin “full production activities” on the cutter program in what company President and CEO Ben Bordelon called a “historic achievement.”

In addition to US-built ships, Trump said in late April that the US would also pursue the “purchase and development of a large number of badly needed” icebreakers from Finland as well.

The new funding is expected to come through the overarching budget reconciliation process, which allows a party with a slight majority in both chambers to push through legislation without the threat of filibuster. Trump and congressional Republicans hope to use reconciliation to move ahead with White House priorities on defense, border security and sweeping federal spending cuts without having to make concessions to Democrats.

The House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday passed the defense-focused reconciliation bill, which includes $150 billion in new funding. However, as the Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security, the icebreaker funding is included in a different part of the reconciliation package, which has yet to see a vote.

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Western officials have been sounding the alarm over America’s lacking icebreaker capability, especially compared to Russia’s robust fleet, as Arctic waters melt and new strategic sea routes emerge.

“With climate change, our Arctic is becoming far more accessible,” Canadian Minister of National Defence Bill Blair said at the NATO summit last July, adding that there are “huge gaps in our security and in our presence” in the Arctic.

The US, Finland and Canada are members of the Biden-era ICE Pact, which “advances Arctic and polar icebreaker development by combining [each country’s] collective knowledge, resources, and expertise,” according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Despite Trump’s praise of Finland’s capabilities, ICE Pact’s future has been in question as relations between the US and Canada have cratered over Trump’s repeated insistence that Canada become America’s 51st state.

UPDATED 5/1/2025 at 4:25pm ET to include Bollinger’s announcement about full production activity.