The Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20), the Coast Guard’s only “medium icebreaker,” returns to Seattle following a two-month Arctic patrol, Aug. 16, 2024. The Healy is the United States’ largest Polar icebreaker and was commissioned in 2000. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Taylor Tracy)

The US Naval Institute reports,

The final Fiscal Year 2025 spending bill could include a provision for a new Arctic Security Cutter that would operate in parallel with the ongoing Polar Security Cutter icebreaker program, according to two sources familiar with a draft version of the proposal.
The draft for the FY 2025 spending bill calls for up to three hulls in the reconciliation proposal that House and Senate Republicans are negotiating, the sources told USNI News.

At last it appears the procurement process for the class of medium icebreakers we know we need has begun.

Why “up to three” when we know we need at least four? Presumably any icebreakers in out  years would be options, unless they are considering a block buy, which is unlikely for a new class that may be as difficult as this one.