---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 55304"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "55304"
heading: "Exports financed by the United States Government"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/55304"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Merchant Marine"
  - "Part D — Promotional Programs"
  - "Chapter 553 — Passenger and Cargo Preferences"
  - "Subchapter I — Government Impelled Transportation"
---

# §55304. Exports financed by the United States Government


It is the sense of Congress that any loans made by an instrumentality of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) Government to foster the exporting of agricultural or other products shall provide that the products may be transported only on [vessels](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) unless, as to any or all of those products, the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) of Transportation, after investigation, certifies to the instrumentality that [vessels](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) are not available in sufficient number, in sufficient tonnage capacity, on necessary schedules, or at reasonable rates.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(c), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1642.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 55304 | 46 App.:1241–1. | Mar. 26, 1934, ch. 90, 48 Stat. 500; June 29, 1936, ch. 858, § 204, 49 Stat. 1987; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(127), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 165. |

This section codifies the Joint Resolution of March 26, 1934 (ch. 90, 48 Stat. 500) (also commonly known as Public Resolution 17). The codification of this provision is not intended to change its status as a “Sense of Congress” provision in any way. The words “Reconstruction Finance Corporation or” are omitted as obsolete because the Reconstruction Finance Corporation was abolished by section 6 of Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1957 (5 App. U.S.C.).