As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on February 12, 2026
By Fiscal Year, Millions of Dollars | 2026 | 2026-2031 | 2026-2036 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Direct Spending (Outlays) | * | * | * | ||||||||
Revenues | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Increase or Decrease (-) in the Deficit | * | * | * | ||||||||
Spending Subject to Appropriation (Outlays) | * | 1 | not estimated | ||||||||
Increases net direct spending in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037? | * | Statutory pay-as-you-go procedures apply? | Yes | ||||||||
Mandate Effects | |||||||||||
Increases on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037? | * | Contains intergovernmental mandate? | No | ||||||||
Contains private-sector mandate? | No | ||||||||||
* = between zero and $500,000. | |||||||||||
On This Page
S. 3266 would authorize the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish a nonprofit corporation to support the athletic programs of the Merchant Marine Academy. Under the bill, DOT and the corporation could enter into contracts to make capital improvements to athletic facilities at the academy. In addition, the corporation would be authorized to collect funds from ticketing and licensing agreements as well as from other athletic institutions and to spend those amounts without further appropriation. Finally, the bill would require DOT to issue guidance on implementing a trademark-licensing program for the academy’s athletic department within 180 days of enactment.
CBO expects that the corporation would be used for governmental purposes and would be subject to significant federal control; accordingly, CBO estimates that the cash flows of the corporation would affect direct spending.[1] In CBO’s view, the receipt and spending of funds from ticketing, licensing agreements, and other athletic institutions should be recorded in the federal budget as changes in direct spending. CBO expects that the funds available from those activities would be spent soon after they are collected and thus estimates that the net change in direct spending from those amounts would be negligible.
In addition, CBO expects that some funds collected by the corporation could be used to enter into contracts to obtain financing for capital improvements to the academy’s athletic facilities. After evaluating the cash flows that would be available to the corporation to service such financing and accounting for the probability that the authority would be used for capital improvements, we estimate that the net increase in direct spending for those activities would be less than $500,000 over the 2026-2036 period.
CBO’s estimate of direct spending under S. 3266 is subject to significant uncertainty. In particular, costs under the bill could be higher or lower than CBO estimates depending on the number and type of contracts that DOT would enter the nonprofit corporation into.
S. 3266 would require DOT to establish and advise the nonprofit corporation and issue guidance on implementing a trademark-licensing program for the academy’s athletic department. Based on the cost of similar activities, CBO estimates that implementing those provisions would cost $1 million over the 2026-2031 period. Any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Aaron Krupkin and Emma Uebelhor. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel
Director, Congressional Budget Office
[1]. See Congressional Budget Office, How CBO Determines Whether to Classify an Activity as Governmental When Estimating Its Budgetary Effects (June 2017), www.cbo.gov/publication/52803.