[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 4, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H5764-H5765]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  IT IS TIME TO LOOK AT THE JONES ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Guam [Mr. Underwood] is recognized during 
morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commend Chairman Howard Coble, 
chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime 
Transportation, for scheduling a hearing to review our maritime policy. 
In particular, this hearing will take a close look at the Jones Act, 
which requires that goods between American ports be shipped on American 
vessels.
  The Jones Act might make sense for some mainland communities, but it 
does not make sense for Guam, 8,000 miles away from the west coast. 
Unfortunately for Guam, the defenders of the Jones Act form a unique 
coalition of labor and corporate interests who have every intention of 
fighting to preserve their corporate pork and their captive markets.
  We need to study this issue carefully and, while we recognize a 
national need for a strong merchant marine, this objective should not 
be accomplished at the expense of small island communities or the 
American consumer. At the very least, Congress should examine the 
changing regulatory environment and the movement to free trade. We 
should consider which regulatory regime makes sense for the offshore 
domestic trades--complete deregulation, with full competition, or a 
regulated environment, with protections for the consumer against 
shipping carrier rate abuses.
  Guam's position is that the Jones Act should not apply to territories 
outside the U.S. Customs Zone--and Guam is the only U.S. territory 
located outside the U.S. Customs Zone subject to the Jones Act. 
American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and our good neighbor, the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, are all exempt from the Jones 
Act. Guam seeks an exemption from the Jones Act consistent with the 
treatment of other U.S. Territories outside the U.S. Customs Zone.
  I welcome the hearing on June 12 on this issue and I thank Chairman 
Coble for inviting the Governor of Guam to help make our case before 
the committee.
  My intern asked who the Jones Act is named for--well, it's not the 
John Paul

[[Page H5765]]

Jones who said ``Don't give up the ship,'' it's the other Jones who 
might have said ``Don't give up the shipping subsidy.''

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