[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 194 (Wednesday, December 14, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1293]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE CLOSE AGENCY LOOPHOLES TO THE JONES ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 14, 2022

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, today I introduce the ``Close Agency 
Loopholes to the Jones Act,'' which would close early 50 years of anti-
Jones Act decisions, known as ``letter rulings'', by U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection.
  As chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and 
having served as ranking member of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and 
Maritime Transportation from 2013 to 2018, I am committed to rebuilding 
the U.S.-flagged fleet including international and Jones Act vessels. 
For nearly 50 years, Congress has stood idly by while federal 
regulators made bad decision after bad decision chipping away at the 
Jones Act, allowing foreign vessels paying poverty wages to take jobs 
from Americans working in our maritime industry. That stops today.
  In December 2020, Congress enacted my amendment to the Outer 
Continental Shelf Lands Act as section 9503 of the William M. (Mac) 
Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 
(Public Law 116-283) affirming that the application of the 
Constitution, laws, and civil and political jurisdiction of the United 
States to the Outer Continental Shelf also applies to non-mineral 
energy resources and exploring for, developing, producing, 
transporting, or transmitting such resources. As I stated in my remarks 
on September 24, 2020 (Congressional Record, Vol. 166, No. 166), 
Congress always intended U.S. law to apply to any form of exploration, 
development, production, transportation, and transmission of energy 
resources under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953.
  On January 25, 2021, President Biden's first executive order 
(no.14005) after assuming office directed federal agencies to maximize 
the use of American mariners, American-built ships, and U.S.-flagged 
vessels under the Jones Act. In response to my amendment enacted in the 
FY12 NDAA, Customs and Border Protection issued a headquarters ruling 
letter ``HQ H309186'' on January 27, 2021, correctly holding that the 
transportation of ``scour protection'' materials from the Port of 
Providence, Rhode Island to a wind project on the Outer Continental 
Shelf off the southeast shore of Martha's Vineyard is a coastwise 
activity under the Jones Act.
  On March 17, 2021, the national trade association for the offshore 
wind industry sent a letter to the Commissioner of Customs and Border 
Protection requesting that the agency withdraw HQ H309186. In this 
letter, the offshore wind industry mischaracterized my September 2020, 
remarks from the Congressional Record as somehow supporting its request 
that Customs and Border Protection withdraw the January 27, 2021, 
letter ruling. On March 25, 2021, Customs and Border Protection issued 
a revised headquarters ruling letter (HQ H317289) contradicting its 
January 2021 letter ruling and the President's policy to allow foreign 
vessels to construct energy projects on the Outer Continental Shelf.
  To be clear, my September 2020 remarks in the Congressional Record 
state that my amendment to Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act simply 
clarified that all forms of offshore energy development are indeed 
subject to the same U.S. laws that apply to the offshore oil and gas 
industry. That does not mean that I accept the validity of the many 
administrative loopholes to the Jones Act created by decades of bad 
letter rulings and poor enforcement by Customs and Border Protection. 
Rather, I have long held that many of the activities regulators have 
incorrectly allowed the offshore oil and gas industry to engage in 
using foreign-flagged vessels are clear violations of the plain text of 
the Jones Act and original Congressional intent.
  It is now clear to me that the regulators at Customs and Border 
Protection are unwilling to fully implement the Jones Act, as directed 
by President Biden's Executive Order 14005. My `Closing Agency 
Loopholes to the Jones Act' would finally force federal regulators to 
enforce the law as Congress intended in 1920, maximizing job 
opportunities for American mariners, U.S.-flagged vessels, and domestic 
shipyard workers. In effect, my legislation would also compel Customs 
and Border Protection to implement the President's stated policy by 
fully enforcing the Jones Act.
  Madam Speaker, I encourage all members of the House to cosponsor this 
critical and long overdue legislation.

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