Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Political Mayhem Thursday: Puerto Rico, Tragedy, and the Jones Act
It could be that (like me) you have come across references to the Jones Act in relation to the ongoing crisis in Puerto Rico in the wake of two hurricanes. This Wall Street Journal article does a pretty good job of describing what that is:
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was weighing permitting foreign-flagged vessels to ship relief supplies from U.S. ports to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, but noted U.S.-based maritime carriers opposed the move.
Mr. Trump’s remarks came after a group of House Democrats and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona asked the Department of Homeland Security to waive the restrictions, contained in a 1920 law called the Jones Act, which they say will burden the relief effort and increase the cost of bringing critical supplies to islanders.
“We’re thinking about that,” Mr. Trump told reporters when asked if he would lift restrictions on foreign vessels’ operations, “but we have a lot of shippers and a lot of people... who work in the shipping industry that don’t want the Jones Act lifted. And we have a lot of ships out there right now.”
The act, regarded as one of the cornerstones of U.S. maritime policy, requires that goods shipped between U.S. ports be carried by vessels built in the U.S., majority-owned by American firms and crewed by U.S. citizens. The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t waived the act for Puerto Rico, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria last week....
In a letter sent to the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, [Sen. John] McCain criticized the department for waiving the Jones Act in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, but not for Puerto Rico. Mr. McCain has long sought a repeal of the Jones Act.
“It is unacceptable to force the people of Puerto Rico to pay at least twice as much for food, clean drinking water, supplies and infrastructure due to Jones Act requirements as they work to recover from this disaster,” he wrote in the letter sent Tuesday evening.
If the Act was waived for Houston and Florida, it is hard to understand why it wouldn't be waived for Puerto Rico, which appears to be in the worst shape of the three.
UPDATE: Today, President Trump waived the Jones Act to allow more aid into Puerto Rico.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was weighing permitting foreign-flagged vessels to ship relief supplies from U.S. ports to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, but noted U.S.-based maritime carriers opposed the move.
Mr. Trump’s remarks came after a group of House Democrats and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona asked the Department of Homeland Security to waive the restrictions, contained in a 1920 law called the Jones Act, which they say will burden the relief effort and increase the cost of bringing critical supplies to islanders.
“We’re thinking about that,” Mr. Trump told reporters when asked if he would lift restrictions on foreign vessels’ operations, “but we have a lot of shippers and a lot of people... who work in the shipping industry that don’t want the Jones Act lifted. And we have a lot of ships out there right now.”
The act, regarded as one of the cornerstones of U.S. maritime policy, requires that goods shipped between U.S. ports be carried by vessels built in the U.S., majority-owned by American firms and crewed by U.S. citizens. The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t waived the act for Puerto Rico, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria last week....
In a letter sent to the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, [Sen. John] McCain criticized the department for waiving the Jones Act in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, but not for Puerto Rico. Mr. McCain has long sought a repeal of the Jones Act.
“It is unacceptable to force the people of Puerto Rico to pay at least twice as much for food, clean drinking water, supplies and infrastructure due to Jones Act requirements as they work to recover from this disaster,” he wrote in the letter sent Tuesday evening.
If the Act was waived for Houston and Florida, it is hard to understand why it wouldn't be waived for Puerto Rico, which appears to be in the worst shape of the three.
UPDATE: Today, President Trump waived the Jones Act to allow more aid into Puerto Rico.
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Trump and his administration have treated Puerto Rico as the unwanted step-child. Pre-placement of resources did not occur in PR but did in Houston and Florida. The result is that there is inadequate manpower to help, fuel is still very short, and support services, like medical care ships are not there yet and should be and could have been.
# posted by 
: 7:12 AM
: 7:12 AM
The waiver on the Jones Act is just a small part of the problem but will help in Puerto Rico. The USNS Comfort, from what I can see online is still in port at Norfolk. The hospitals on both St. Thomas (Irma) and St. Croix (Maria) were destroyed and need to be rebuilt.
On the Islands of St John and St. Thomas they have gone three weeks as they were devastated by Irma. Their year round populations are much smaller but the residents of these islands are much poorer than Puerto Rico. A friend of mine has a home on the eastern tip of St. John (still standing as far as they can tell from NOAA photos). If they order something from Amazon it is frequently opened by someone enroute an in most cases the items stolen.
It is truly a sad state of affairs.
On the Islands of St John and St. Thomas they have gone three weeks as they were devastated by Irma. Their year round populations are much smaller but the residents of these islands are much poorer than Puerto Rico. A friend of mine has a home on the eastern tip of St. John (still standing as far as they can tell from NOAA photos). If they order something from Amazon it is frequently opened by someone enroute an in most cases the items stolen.
It is truly a sad state of affairs.
I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts.
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