S.Amdt. 6640

SA 6640. Mr. SCHMITT submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:

SEC. 10__. AMERICAN SUPPLY CHAIN SOVEREIGNTY INITIATIVE.

(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
(1) the infiltration and influence of global maritime
logistics networks by state-directed entities, specifically
platforms such as the national transportation logistics
public information platform (commonly known as ``LOGINK'')
and entities identified under section 1260H of the William M.
(Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2021 (10 U.S.C. 113 note; Public Law 116-283),
constitutes a direct and immediate threat to United States
national security and Department of Defense mobilization
capabilities;
(2) the velocity and security of maritime terminals are
essential matters of interstate commerce and national
defense, requiring a unified, secure Federal data
architecture; and
(3) the American Supply Chain Sovereignty Initiative is
explicitly intended to serve as a neutral, federally
protected public utility that--
(A) preserves free-market autonomy;
(B) protects confidential business information of United
States businesses of all sizes; and
(C) ensures the United States military and domestic
workforce cannot be undermined by foreign logistics
platforms.
(b) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Commercial intermediary.--The term ``commercial
intermediary'' means--
(A) a third-party logistics provider;
(B) a customs broker; and
(C) a freight forwarder.
(2) Country of concern.--The term ``country of concern''
means a covered nation (as defined in section 4872(f) of
title 10, United States Code).
(3) Covered logistics platform.--The term ``covered
logistics platform'' means a logistics software, terminal
operating system, or data aggregation platform that the
Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the
Commander of the United States Transportation Command, the
Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Homeland
Security, identifies as being owned by, systemically
integrated with, or utilizing proprietary software licensed
by an entity that is--
(A) identified pursuant to section 1260H of the William M.
(Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2021 (10 U.S.C. 113 note; Public Law 116-283);
(B) included on the Entity List maintained by the Bureau of
Industry and Security and set forth in Supplement No. 4 to
part 744 of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations (or a
successor list); or
(C) identified as--
(i) a country of concern; or
(ii) an entity subject to the jurisdiction, direction, or
control of a country of concern.
(4) CTPAT.--The term ``CTPAT'' means the Customs-Trade
Partnership Against Terrorism established under subtitle B of
title II of the SAFE Port Act (6 U.S.C. 961 et seq.).
(5) Declared national emergency.--The term ``declared
national emergency'' means an emergency or major disaster
that has been formally declared by the President pursuant to
existing statutory authority, including--
(A) a national emergency declared by the President under
the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.);
(B) an emergency declared by the President under section
501 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5191);
(C) a major disaster declared by the President under
section 401 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 5170); or
(D) a public health emergency declared under section 319 of
the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d).
(6) Initiative.--The term ``Initiative'' means the American
Supply Chain Sovereignty Initiative established under
subsection (c).

[[Page S3841]]

(7) Marine terminal operator.--The term ``marine terminal
operator'' has the meaning given the term in section 40102 of
title 46, United States Code.
(8) Ocean common carrier.--The term ``ocean common
carrier'' has the meaning given the term in section 40102 of
title 46, United States Code.
(9) Operational tier member.--The term ``operational tier
member'' means a participant described in any of clauses (i)
through (xi) of subsection (g)(1)(B).
(10) Participant.--The term ``participant'' means any
individual or entity participating in the Initiative in
accordance with subsection (e)(2)(A).
(11) Participant tier member.--The term ``participant tier
member'' means any participant in the Initiative that is not
an operational tier member.
(12) Participating.--The term ``participating'', with
respect to an individual or entity, means that the individual
or entity is participating in the Initiative in accordance
with subsection (e)(2)(A).
(13) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Transportation.
(c) Establishment.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with
the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security,
the United States Trade Representative, and the Federal
Maritime Commission, shall establish a program, to be known
as the ``American Supply Chain Sovereignty Initiative''.
(2) Requirement.--The Initiative shall build on the Freight
Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW) program to encompass both
containerized and bulk freight shipments, for imports and
exports, in accordance with the phased deployment authority
established under subsection (g)(5).
(d) Integration of Data.--
(1) Authority.--The Secretary may collect and integrate--
(A) voluntary confidential business information provided by
private sector supply chain entities, including agricultural
producers, energy producers, manufacturers, third-party
logistics providers, commodity traders, ocean common
carriers, and commercial providers of meteorological,
geospatial, and navigational data;
(B) public sector administrative and physical domain data,
including customs data, inbound and outbound vessel
manifests, cross-border intermodal manifests, inland waterway
infrastructure data, export control data, agricultural
shipment flows and transportation market datasets maintained
by the Agricultural Marketing Service, and meteorological,
hydrographic, and geospatial data; and
(C) advanced statistical and predictive models.
(2) Objective.--The integrated data under paragraph (1)
shall be utilized to reduce inflationary pressures, optimize
routing alternatives, maximize the throughput capacity of
existing physical infrastructure, deter domestic cargo theft,
support the rapid movement of essential cargo, and counter
the integration and influence of covered logistics platforms
in United States supply chains by restricting such platforms
and affiliated entities from the expedited service tier
established under subsection (f) while permitting baseline
data integration to preserve macroscopic network visibility.
(3) Protection of personally identifiable information.--
(A) In general.--Nothing in this subsection authorizes the
collection, storage, or analysis of personally identifiable
information regarding any individual.
(B) Operational tier members.--
(i) In general.--To support operational utility, asset-
level data strictly limited to freight-carrying conveyances
such as shipping containers, trailers, intermodal chassis,
railcars, and vessels, and explicitly excluding terminal
handling equipment, may be retained and shared in its
granular form strictly with operational tier members under
subsection (g)(1).
(ii) Requirement.--The collection, retention, or sharing of
individual telematics or geospatial tracking of terminal
handling equipment is strictly prohibited, but the reporting
of aggregated terminal capacity metrics or overall equipment
availability status is permitted strictly for the purpose of
predictive operational modeling and network forecasting
shared with operational tier members under subsection (g)(1).
(C) Participant tier members.--Data disseminated to
participant tier members shall be appropriately anonymized
and aggregated.
(4) Mandatory cybersecurity and zero-trust integration.--
The Secretary shall ensure that the entire digital
architecture of the Initiative conforms strictly to Federal
zero-trust architecture mandates and incorporates rigorous
logical network segmentation, boundary defenses, and
continuous automated data cleansing protocols designed to
completely eliminate lateral network movement, cross-domain
vulnerabilities, or unauthorized executable code,
particularly across interfaces accessible by participant tier
members.
(e) Prohibition on Operational Execution and Conditions for
Expedited Service.--
(1) Prohibition on mandates.--Except as authorized under
section 101 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C.
4511), nothing in this section provides any authority to the
Secretary to mandate physical operational execution across
the general supply chain, including any authority--
(A) to require reservations for berths or gates;
(B) to assign specific vessels to specific terminals; or
(C) to interfere with the commercial rights of participants
to negotiate pricing or operational schedules.
(2) Affirmation of voluntary participation.--
(A) In general.--Participation in the Initiative, including
the data-sharing framework under subsection (g), shall be
voluntary, subject to the condition that any individual or
entity electing to participate shall--
(i) comply with the proportional, reciprocal data-sharing
requirements established by the Secretary for the specific
operational category or tier of participation of that
individual or entity, including any additional data-sharing
and cadence requirements necessary to execute the expedited
service tier under subsection (f) for applicable cargo; and
(ii) submit data in the format and cadence that the
Secretary determines necessary for the Initiative to function
properly.
(B) Authority.--Nothing in this section provides any
authority to the Secretary to dictate commercial execution,
market share allocation, or command-and-control logistics
models utilized by state-owned enterprises or entities
subject to the jurisdiction, direction, or control of a
country of concern during the normal course of business.
(C) Inclusion for network visibility.--
(i) In general.--Nothing in this section shall be construed
to prohibit an entity subject to the jurisdiction, direction,
or control of a country of concern, or an entity utilizing a
covered logistics platform, from participating as a
participant tier member strictly for baseline data
integration under subsection (d)(1)(A), subject to the
condition that such entity and the moves of such entity shall
remain strictly ineligible for each of the expedited service
tier under subsection (f) and the receipt of granular
operational tier data under subsection (g)(1).
(ii) Requirement.--Individual container movements and
shipments shall be evaluated for the expedited service tier
under subsection (f) strictly on a transaction-by-transaction
basis, subject to the condition that any specific move
utilizing data that touches, originates from, or is
transmitted via a covered logistics platform shall be
ineligible for that expedited service tier or the receipt of
granular operational tier data under subsection (g)(1),
regardless of whether the moving party is an operational tier
member or a participant tier member.
(3) Operational requirement for expedited service.--
Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), the administrative
designation and digital signaling of expedited cargo under
subsection (f) shall be contingent on the good-faith physical
execution of the designation or signaling by the participant
electing to offer or utilize the expedited service tier,
consistent with all applicable operational requirements under
subsections (f) and (g), as determined by the Secretary.
(4) Review of associated fees.--
(A) In general.--Nothing in this section exempts any fee or
cost-recovery mechanism introduced by a commercial
participant in relation to the Initiative from applicable
statutory advance notice requirements.
(B) Oversight.--Any fee or mechanism described in
subparagraph (A) shall remain subject to the continuous
oversight of the Federal Maritime Commission, in accordance
with its jurisdiction, including expedited review upon the
filing of a participant tier member complaint.
(C) Prohibitions and limitations on fees.--
(i) Prohibition on administrative fees.--A commercial
participant shall not assess any secondary fee, surcharge, or
cost-recovery mechanism against a participant tier member
strictly for the administrative designation of cargo for the
expedited service tier under subsection (f).
(ii) Rule of construction for physical execution.--Nothing
in clause (i) prohibits a commercial participant from
assessing a just, reasonable, and non-discriminatory fee or
published tariff for the actual physical handling, block
stowage, expanded gate hours, or dedicated yard
infrastructure required to physically execute the expedited
service tier under subsection (f), subject to the advance
notice and expedited review requirements under subparagraphs
(A) and (B).
(5) Common carrier safe harbor.--The physical
prioritization, block stowage, or expedited handling of cargo
designated for expedited service consistent with the
requirements of a secure supply chain under subsection (f) by
a participating ocean common carrier or marine terminal
operator, acting in good faith to fulfill the operational
requirements of this section, shall not constitute an undue
or unreasonable preference, advantage, prejudice, or
disadvantage under section 41104 of title 46, United States
Code, or any associated regulations.
(f) Expedited Service Tier and Accountability.--
(1) Criteria for expedited service.--
(A) In general.--In carrying out the Initiative, the
Secretary, in consultation with the Commissioner of U.S.
Customs and Border Protection, the Secretary of Commerce, and
the Secretary of Agriculture, shall establish objective
criteria to designate cargo for voluntary expedited service.
(B) Risk profiles.--The Initiative shall provide vessel-
and shipment-specific details to enrich existing information
used by U.S.

[[Page S3842]]

Customs and Border Protection in the determination of risk
profiles used to expedite freight upon entry.
(C) Requirements.--Cargo shall only be eligible for
designation for expedited service under the Initiative if--
(i)(I) the importer or exporter of record is a validated
participant in good standing of the CTPAT;
(II) the cargo consists of supplies described in section
2631(a) of title 10, United States Code; or
(III) the cargo consists of commodities included on an
Essential Commodity Target List developed under paragraph
(6); and
(ii) the Secretary verifies that the cargo data is
transferred via a trusted data chain, as described in
paragraph (2).
(2) Trusted data chain.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary shall promulgate
technologically neutral data standards for verifying that
cargo data is transferred via a trusted data chain.
(B) Requirement.--The standards promulgated under
subparagraph (A) shall require--
(i) a tamper-evident digital attestation, originating from
the physical point of execution, to verify that the data
provenance has not been irreversibly scrubbed or masked by a
proxy server affiliated with a covered logistics platform or
an entity identified under section 1260H of the William M.
(Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2021 (10 U.S.C. 113 note; Public Law 116-283); or
(ii) an alternative verification mechanism that, in the
determination of the Secretary, provides an equivalent or
superior level of security and assurance of data provenance.
(C) Commercial intermediary safe harbor.--Nothing in this
paragraph shall prevent or penalize the lawful routing of
data by an authorized commercial intermediary, subject to the
condition the commercial intermediary utilizes a secure
architecture that preserves the original point-of-origin
cryptographic attestation.
(3) Transition period.--The Secretary shall establish a 2-
year transition period for operational deployment, during
which provisional eligibility for expedited service may be
granted utilizing legacy electronic data transmission
protocols and third-party audits, but after which the tamper-
evident digital attestation requirements described in
paragraph (2) shall be strictly enforced.
(4) National interest waiver.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary, in consultation with the
Secretary of Homeland Security, may temporarily waive the
requirements of this section relating to covered logistics
platform exposure, tamper-evident digital attestations, or
both, for specific participants, trade lanes, or commodity
classes if the Secretary determines that the waiver is in the
national interest or necessary to prevent significant supply
chain disruption.
(B) Renewal.--A waiver granted under this paragraph shall
be limited to a period not to exceed 180 days, but may be
renewed by the Secretary for additional successive periods of
up to 180 days upon a renewed determination of national
interest or operational necessity.
(5) Mechanisms to prevent unreasonable displacement of
general commerce.--
(A) In general.--In carrying out the Initiative, the
Secretary may implement appropriate mechanisms to prevent the
unreasonable displacement of general commerce.
(B) Capacity allocation for small businesses.--In carrying
out the Initiative, the Secretary shall establish a minimum
percentage of all expedited capacity designations that shall
be available for eligible small business concerns (within the
meaning of section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
632)).
(C) Limitation.--Nothing in this paragraph provides any
authority to impose physical terminal throughput quotas.
(6) Essential cargo and abstraction during national
emergencies.--
(A) In general.--During a declared national emergency, the
President may develop a non-public Essential Commodity Target
List for a country or affected region.
(B) Exemption from disclosure.--An Essential Commodity
Target List under subparagraph (A) shall be exempt from
disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States Code.
(C) Requirement.--The Secretary shall not transmit the
underlying Harmonized Tariff Schedule code or national
security justification for any designation made under this
paragraph to the applicable operational tier member executing
the physical movement of the applicable cargo.
(7) Revocation for abuse.--The Secretary may suspend or
revoke participation in any tier of the Initiative for any
entity determined to have knowingly submitted false or
misleading data regarding the urgency, details, or strategic
value of a shipment.
(g) Tiered Information Sharing Architecture.--
(1) Operational tier members.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary may share operational data
with directly interested operational tier members as
necessary to facilitate the physical movement of cargo,
subject to the condition that the disclosure is strictly
limited to the operational data necessary for physical
execution and shall not include commercial pricing, freight
rates, financial contract terms, or any other confidential
business information.
(B) Permitted disclosures.--The Secretary may disclose
operational data to operational tier members as follows:
(i) To a participating ocean common carrier, container-
level or commodity-level data necessary to facilitate origin
stowage plans and priority cargo blocks.
(ii) To a participating marine terminal operator,
predictive arrival times and container-level or tank-and-
hold-level priority-mapped vessel stowage plans to support
the expedited movement of priority containers, pipeline
manifold scheduling, and the dynamic coordination of export
receiving windows for outbound expedited cargo.
(iii) To a participating port authority, anonymized volume
and capacity forecasts relevant to the jurisdiction of the
port authority.
(iv) To participating railroad carriers, aggregated demand
forecasts to plan railcar supply.
(v) To participating motor carriers, container-specific
predictive availability strictly to optimize dispatch
scheduling and facilitate advanced terminal and gate
coordination.
(vi) To participating providers of intermodal chassis,
aggregated demand forecasts and empty equipment priority
status to optimize equipment availability.
(vii) To participating off-dock container yards, transload
facilities, and warehouses, predictive availability strictly
for cargo explicitly routed to that yard, facility, or
warehouse.
(viii) To a participating maritime operator on inland
waterways, predictive queuing and lock status for transiting
vessels and barges.
(ix) To a participating pipeline operator or port-side bulk
storage facility, predictive arrival times, volume, and
priority status of liquid or dry bulk vessels.
(x) To the Corps of Engineers, predictive vessel-specific
data for barge and deep-draft vessel traffic across inland
waterways and federally maintained coastal channels necessary
to optimize lockage scheduling, water level management,
dredging schedules, trust fund utilization, and
infrastructure maintenance.
(xi) To a participating licensed customs broker, read-only
visibility of clearance status.
(2) Participant tier members.--
(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C), the
Secretary may share aggregated, anonymized benchmarking data
with participant tier members.
(B) Prohibition on real-time tracking.--Data shared under
this paragraph shall not provide continuous, real-time
location tracking of individual commercial assets.
(C) Prohibition on resale.--No entity receiving data under
this paragraph may sell, license, or incorporate the data
into a commercial product offered to third parties.
(3) Vendor exception.--
(A) In general.--Any participant receiving data under this
subsection may transmit that data to a contracted technology
service provider or terminal operating system approved by the
Secretary, which shall include any legacy commercial system
provisionally approved or deemed approved by the Secretary
upon initial deployment, strictly to facilitate the internal
logistics operations of the participant, subject to the
condition that the vendor of the technology service provider
or terminal operating system is contractually prohibited from
utilizing the data for any other purpose.
(B) Disqualification and remediation.--If the Secretary
determines that a technology service provider or terminal
operating system vendor has violated a contractual
prohibition described in subparagraph (A) or compromised data
provenance, the Secretary--
(i) may disqualify that vendor from receiving data under
this section; and
(ii) except where an immediate threat to national security
requires immediate cessation, shall provide any participant
utilizing that vendor in good faith a reasonable operational
transition period to remediate the exposure without penalty,
revocation, or loss of status under this section.
(4) Prohibition on commercial competition.--The Secretary
shall not develop, offer, or assess a fee for premium
software modules that replicate commercially available fleet
management, commercial routing, or reservation booking
products.
(5) Phased deployment.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary may implement data
collection and dissemination pursuant to the Initiative in
phases through technologically neutral interfaces.
(B) Deadline for initial deployment.--Not later than 1 year
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall
deploy the digital architecture for inbound containerized
freight developed for the Initiative.
(C) Subsequent integration.--Following the initial
operational deployment for inbound containerized freight
under subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall integrate
outbound containerized exports and dry and liquid bulk
commodities as technological readiness and commercial
adoption permit.
(D) Annual report.--The Secretary shall publish an annual
report providing high-level statistical summaries of supply
chain performance that shall not reveal confidential business
information.
(6) Priority for infrastructure grants.--In awarding
discretionary grants for freight infrastructure projects,
including grants under the Port Infrastructure Development
Program under section 54301 of title 46, United States Code,
and the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway
Projects program under section 117 of title 23, United States
Code, the Secretary

[[Page S3843]]

may, in addition to any other applicable provision of law
providing for priority consideration under the applicable
grant program, give priority consideration to applications
submitted by or on behalf of operators that are active
participants in good standing.
(h) Interagency Coordination for National Defense.--
(1) Strictly limited data sharing.--
(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C), the
Secretary may share data, analysis, and predictive models
derived from the Initiative strictly and exclusively with--
(i) the Department of Defense;
(ii) the Department of Homeland Security;
(iii) the Department of Agriculture (including the
Agricultural Marketing Service); and
(iv) the Department of Commerce.
(B) Interagency data integration and mandatory enforcement
protocols.--
(i) Compliance simplification.--The Secretary shall ensure
that any data element required to be submitted to the
Initiative across all participation tiers that is
concurrently collected by or filed with the Department of
Homeland Security or the Department of Commerce under
existing customs, border security, or export clearance
authorities is integrated seamlessly and transmitted
electronically between the respective agencies to eliminate
duplicate administrative burdens on participants.
(ii) Private data firewall and balanced enforcement
access.--Confidential business information unique to the
Initiative under subsection (d)(1)(A), including forward-
looking purchase orders, carrier booking projections, and
landside distribution capacities, shall be strictly masked or
withheld from the Department of Homeland Security and the
Department of Commerce for participant tier members, subject
to the condition that such data protection mask shall be
lifted automatically and seamlessly for any cargo voluntarily
designated for the expedited service tier under subsection
(f), or upon the formal presentation of an active,
independent trade remedy or customs revenue investigation
authorization executed by an authorized enforcement agency.
(C) Department of agriculture.--
(i) Commodity limitation.--Data shared with the Department
of Agriculture (including the Agricultural Marketing Service)
shall be strictly limited to data, analysis, and predictive
models directly regarding agricultural commodities, food
products, forestry items, and related agricultural shipment
flows.
(ii) Aggregation requirement.--Except as provided in clause
(iii), all data accessed by or disseminated to the Department
of Agriculture or the Agricultural Marketing Service under
this section shall--

(I) be strictly anonymized and aggregated; and
(II) exclude granular asset-level data and unmasked
confidential business information across all participation
tiers.

(iii) Proprietary cargo exception.--The commodity and
aggregation constraints under clauses (i) and (ii) shall not
apply to granular asset-level data or confidential business
information strictly relevant to individual shipments where
the Department of Agriculture or the Agricultural Marketing
Service is the shipper of record, exporter of record, or
procuring agency.
(2) Prohibition on unilateral expansion.--To preserve the
confidentiality of data collected by the Initiative, the
Secretary may not share data, analysis, or predictive models
derived from the Initiative with any Federal or State agency
not described in paragraph (1)(A), including the Department
of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the
Department of Labor, unless directed to do so by the
President for the purposes of national defense during a
declared national emergency.
(3) Permitted uses.--Data made available by the Secretary
under this subsection may be used strictly and exclusively--
(A) to support national mobilization;
(B) to identify any country of concern or foreign entity
subject to the jurisdiction, direction, or control of a
country of concern, regardless of the destination of the
applicable cargo;
(C) to facilitate lawful trade; and
(D) to detect anomalous transshipments or the routing of
United States-bound cargo through contiguous foreign ports.
(4) Preservation of authorities.--Nothing in this
subsection supersedes the independent authorities of the
Department of Homeland Security or the Department of
Commerce.
(5) Bi-directional exchange.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary of Homeland Security shall
transmit to the Initiative the real-time disposition and
release status of cargo, including Automated Export System
clearances.
(B) Limited sharing of status.--The Secretary of
Transportation may share a binary indication of this status
with operational tier members, subject to the condition that
no Department of Homeland Security targeting methodologies,
inspection codes, or law enforcement sensitive information is
disclosed to any non-Federal participant.
(i) Preservation of Information Protections and Prohibited
Uses.--
(1) Exemption from disclosure.--Information submitted to or
generated by the Initiative shall be--
(A) exempt from disclosure under section 552(b)(3) of title
5, United States Code; and
(B) considered to be confidential information for purposes
of section 1905 of title 18, United States Code, except as
explicitly authorized for limited disclosure to operational
tier members and participant tier members under subsection
(g).
(2) Statistical confidentiality and enforcement
prohibition.--No Federal agency may compel the production or
use of data protected under this subsection to initiate civil
or administrative enforcement against a submitting entity,
including as evidence of violations of part A of subtitle IV
of title 46, United States Code, or any regulation regarding
detention and demurrage.
(3) Secondary use prohibition.--
(A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph (B),
under no circumstances shall data derived from the Initiative
be shared with any Federal, Tribal, or State agency for the
purpose of enforcing civil, environmental, occupational
safety, tax, revenue, or labor regulations.
(B) Exception.--Nothing in this paragraph prohibits the
Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Commerce
from utilizing data to investigate and enforce laws relating
to trade remedies, customs revenue, illegal transnational
freight diversion, or the evasion of border duties, subject
to the condition that such data consists exclusively of--
(i) data voluntarily submitted for the expedited service
tier under subsection (f); or
(ii) participant tier data unmasked strictly in accordance
with the active, independent enforcement and investigation
authorization conditions described in subsection
(h)(1)(B)(ii).
(4) Workforce protection.--
(A) In general.--Data derived from the Initiative shall not
be introduced by any Federal agency to intervene in labor
disputes.
(B) Preservation of bargained frameworks.--Participation in
the Initiative shall not be construed by any participant or
Federal agency to alter, waive, or preempt any operational
definitions, jurisdictional boundaries, or technology-
adoption frameworks established under an existing collective
bargaining agreement.
(C) Employer obligations.--Nothing in this section
relieves, diminishes, or supersedes the contractual
obligations of an employer to confer, disclose, or negotiate
with exclusive bargaining representatives regarding
operational workflows or the integration of digital data into
terminal processes, as governed by an applicable collective
bargaining agreement.
(D) Dispute resolution.--The transmission or receipt of
predictive routing data and digital notifications under this
section--
(i) shall be governed entirely by the existing dispute
resolution procedures and operational parameters established
within applicable collective bargaining agreements; and
(ii) shall not create new, independent statutory grounds
for regulatory intervention or compulsory arbitration.
(E) Limitation on evaluative use.--
(i) In general.--The statutory purpose of the Initiative is
strictly limited to predictive cargo routing and network
forecasting and, therefore, no aggregated data products,
predictive models, or operational metrics disseminated or
output by the Initiative under this section may be utilized,
extrapolated, or published by any participant or Federal
agency to evaluate, benchmark, or audit the operational
execution, personnel output, or comparative efficiency of
particular marine terminals.
(ii) Savings provision.--Nothing in this subparagraph
restricts, limits, or governs the use, analysis, or
publication by a participant of its own native, proprietary
operational data collected or maintained independently of the
Initiative.
(5) Immunity from discovery and cyber liability.--
(A) Immunity from discovery.--Data submitted to the
Initiative--
(i) shall be immune from legal process; and
(ii) shall not be subject to subpoena in any civil action.
(B) Cyber liability.--No cause of action shall lie against
any participant for a cybersecurity incident reliably
determined to have originated solely from the authorized
connection to the Initiative.
(6) Limitations on targeting.--No Federal agency may use
data from the Initiative to identify or target specific
entities for independent audit or investigation in an attempt
to circumvent the prohibitions under this subsection, except
as explicitly authorized for the Department of Homeland
Security and the Department of Commerce under paragraph
(3)(B).
(7) Preservation of independent jurisdiction.--Nothing in
this subsection supersedes the independent statutory
authority of the Federal Maritime Commission, the Surface
Transportation Board, or the Department of Justice to compel
the production of information through standard lawful
subpoenas conducted entirely outside the mechanisms and data
architecture of the Initiative.
(8) Data destruction.--The Secretary shall ensure that
confidential business information received and maintained by
the Initiative is destroyed or irreversibly anonymized not
later than 2 years after the date on which the information is
received by the Initiative.
(9) Expanded fluidity monitoring.--Notwithstanding
paragraph (2), the Secretary may share anonymized and
aggregated system-wide velocity metrics with the Federal
Maritime Commission and the Surface

[[Page S3844]]

Transportation Board, subject to the conditions that--
(A) the aggregation prevents reverse-engineering; and
(B) no metric is shared until a minimum of 30 days has
elapsed from the date of the transmittal to the Initiative of
the information included in the metric.
(10) Exceptions for enforcement and bad actors.--The
prohibitions under paragraph (2) shall not apply to--
(A) the investigation and enforcement of laws relating to
trade remedies, customs revenue, transnational freight
diversion, or the evasion of border duties under paragraph
(3)(B); or
(B) any entity certified by the Secretary of Commerce as an
entity subject to the jurisdiction, direction, or control of
a country of concern engaging in economic coercion.
(j) Preservation of Data Containment and Antitrust
Protocols.--
(1) Limitation on damages.--
(A) In general.--In any civil or criminal action under the
antitrust laws of the United States, conduct strictly limited
to sharing operational data directly with the Initiative
under subsection (g)--
(i) shall not be deemed illegal per se; but
(ii) shall be judged on the basis of reasonableness.
(B) Clayton act exemption.--
(i) In general.--A participant adhering to the data sharing
protocols established under paragraph (2) shall not be liable
for treble damages under section 4 of the Clayton Act (15
U.S.C. 15) with respect to the receipt or use of operational
data from the Initiative.
(ii) Good faith utilization requirement.--The exemption
under clause (i) shall be strictly contingent on the good
faith utilization of the applicable data, by the participant
receiving that data, to actively facilitate the physical
prioritization and block stowage of eligible cargo.
(iii) Pricing firewall.--The exemption under clause (i)
shall not apply to--

(I) any agreement or data exchange regarding freight rates,
surcharges, or contract terms; or
(II) direct, peer-to-peer exchange of proprietary capacity
data outside the secure digital architecture of the
Initiative.

(2) Protocol review and rebuttable presumption.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary shall establish data-sharing
protocols for the Initiative.
(B) Consultation period.--Prior to finalizing data-sharing
protocols for the Initiative, the Secretary shall consult
with the Federal Maritime Commission, the Attorney General,
and the Federal Trade Commission during a 60-day consultation
period.
(C) Post-consultation.--On expiration of the 60-day
consultation period under subparagraph (B), the Secretary
shall retain sole and final authority to approve and
promulgate the data-sharing protocols for the Initiative.
(D) Effect of compliance.--A participant acting in good
faith conformity with the data-sharing protocols established
under this paragraph shall possess a statutory rebuttable
presumption of legality.
(3) Competitive evaluation of the initiative.--
(A) In general.--Congress explicitly vests primary
jurisdiction over the competitive evaluation of the
Initiative with the Federal Maritime Commission.
(B) Consultation.--The Attorney General shall formally
consult with the Federal Maritime Commission prior to
initiating any enforcement action relating to the Initiative,
including the data-sharing protocols established under
paragraph (2).
(4) Savings provision for existing immunities.--
(A) In general.--Nothing in this subsection shall be
construed to modify, diminish, restrict, or supersede the
existing antitrust immunities, exemptions, or jurisdiction
established under part A of subtitle IV of title 46, United
States Code.
(B) Nature of limitations on liability.--The limitations on
liability provided in this subsection--
(i) are additive to existing limitations on liability;
(ii) apply only to the digital transmission of data to the
Initiative; and
(iii) do not affect any other commercial conduct, which
shall be subject to existing statutory and regulatory
enforcement.
(k) Relationship to Other Laws.--
(1) Limited statutory exemption.--Section 431 of the Tariff
Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1431) and section 11904 of title 49,
United States Code, shall not prohibit the disclosure of
specific data elements to participants strictly as described
in this section.
(2) FACA exemption.--Chapter 10 of title 5, United States
Code, shall not apply to any working group or task force
established by the Secretary to refine the predictive models
of the Initiative.
(3) Transfer of functions.--No data collected by the Bureau
of Transportation Statistics under the Freight Logistics
Optimization Works (FLOW) program prior to the date of
enactment of this Act may be transferred to the Initiative
without the explicit written consent of the submitting
entity.
(l) Financial Sustainability and Fiscal Allocations.--
(1) Base funding.--
(A) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section
$22,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2032, of
which up to $7,000,000 may be transferred to the Secretary of
Homeland Security each fiscal year for the purposes described
in paragraph (2).
(B) Limitation.--Except as provided in paragraph (2),
amounts made available for the Initiative pursuant to this
paragraph--
(i) shall be strictly limited to the actual, verifiable
costs of administering the Initiative; and
(ii) shall not be utilized to cross-subsidize unrelated
agency operations.
(C) Authorization of appropriations for subsequent years.--
There are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2033
and each fiscal year thereafter an amount equal to
$22,000,000, adjusted annually for inflation since fiscal
year 2032.
(2) DHS systems integration.--Any amounts transferred to
the Secretary of Homeland Security under paragraph (1) shall
be used--
(A) to support National Targeting Center (NTC) automated
import and export cargo platforms; and
(B) to enable continued, long-term enhancements for--
(i) the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) system;
(ii) the CTPAT; and
(iii) the Vessel Entrance and Clearance System (VECS).
(m) Limitation.--The authority to carry out this section
shall be subject to the availability of appropriations
provided in advance for such purpose.
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