[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 199 (Wednesday, December 21, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H9925-H9927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        ENERGY SECURITY AND LIGHTERING INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 2022

  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (S. 5168) to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to include 
aliens passing in transit through the United States to board a vessel 
on which the alien will perform ship-to-ship liquid cargo transfer 
operations within a class of nonimmigrant aliens, and for other 
purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                S. 5168

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Energy Security and 
     Lightering Independence Act of 2022''.

     SEC. 2. CHANGES IN NONIMMIGRANT CATEGORIES.

       (a) Transit Through United States.--Section 101(a)(15)(C) 
     of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
     1101(a)(15)(C)) is amended to read as follows:
       ``(C)(i) an alien in immediate and continuous transit 
     through the United States, for a period not to exceed 29 
     days;
       ``(ii) an alien who qualifies as a person entitled to pass 
     in transit to and from the United Nations Headquarters 
     District (as defined in section 209A(e) of the State 
     Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 
     4309a(e))) and foreign countries, under the provisions of 
     paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of section 11 of the Agreement 
     regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, done at 
     Lake Success June 26, 1947 (61 Stat. 758); or
       ``(iii) an alien passing in transit through the United 
     States to board a vessel on which the alien will perform, or 
     to disembark from a vessel on which the alien performed, 
     ship-to-ship liquid cargo transfer operations to or from 
     another vessel engaged in foreign trade, for a period not to 
     exceed 180 days;''.
       (b) Alien Crewmen.--Section 101(a)(15)(D) of such Act (8 
     U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(D)) is amended--
       (1) in clause (ii), by adding ``or'' at the end; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(iii) an alien crewman performing ship-to-ship liquid 
     cargo transfer operations to or from another vessel engaged 
     in foreign trade, who intends to land temporarily solely in 
     pursuit of the alien's responsibilities as a crewman and to 
     depart from the United States on the vessel on which the 
     alien arrived or on another vessel or aircraft, for a period 
     not to exceed 180 days;''.

     SEC. 3. CONDITIONAL PERMITS TO LAND TEMPORARILY.

       Section 252(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
     U.S.C. 1282(a)) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``or'' at the end;
       (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting ``; or''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(3) 180 days, if the immigration officer determines that 
     the crewman--
       ``(A) intends to depart, within the period for which the 
     crewman is permitted to land, on the same vessel or on a 
     vessel or aircraft other than the vessel on which the crewman 
     arrived; and
       ``(B) will perform ship-to-ship liquid cargo transfer 
     operations to or from any other vessel engaged in foreign 
     trade during such period.''.

     SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

       For purposes of this Act, and the amendments made by this 
     Act, the performance by a crewman of ship-to-ship liquid 
     cargo transfer operations to or from any other vessel engaged 
     in foreign trade shall not be considered, for immigration 
     purposes, to be services, work, labor or employment by the 
     crewman within the United States.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Nadler) and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Fitzgerald) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on S. 5168.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, S. 5168, the Energy Security and Lightering Independence 
Act of 2022, will make a small but important technical fix to our 
immigration laws to ensure that the visas for certain crewmembers 
engaged in a process known as lightering are functional.
  Lightering is the ship-to-ship transfer of crude oil or liquid 
natural gas from a smaller vessel onto a larger vessel, or vice versa, 
for import and export. Approximately 74 percent of all U.S. exports and 
44 percent of U.S. imports are conducted by lightering.
  Lightering vessel crewmembers are issued combination C-1/D visas by 
the U.S. State Department. A crewmember or D visa is a nonimmigrant 
visa for persons working aboard vessels at sea or airplanes on 
international flights, providing services required for the normal 
operation of those vessels, and intending to depart the United States 
on the same vessel or any other vessel within 29 days.
  A transit or C-1 visa allows the crewmember to travel or transit 
through the United States as a passenger to join a ship or aircraft on 
which that crewmember will work.
  Because the work aboard lightering vessels typically lasts 3 to 6 
months,

[[Page H9926]]

the 29-day limit on the combination C-1/D visa by itself is not 
adequate. Therefore, for decades, Customs and Border Protection has 
granted parole to lightering vessel crewmembers upon arrival in the 
United States, allowing them to remain on board the vessel and then to 
depart after their services aboard the vessel are completed up to 6 
months later.
  This legislation simply modifies the maximum period of stay for 
lightering crewmembers under the C-1/D visa from 29 days to 180 days. 
The simple change makes the C-1/D visa functional for lightering 
crewmembers, thus eliminating the need for CBP to continue granting 
parole on a case-by-case basis.
  The legislation makes clear that this is a narrow change that only 
applies to lightering crewmembers who are transiting through or landing 
temporarily in the United States and that these crewmembers are 
explicitly not eligible to work in the United States on the C-1/D visa.
  This technical fix is also expected to save CBP $250,000 and 6,000 
man-hours per year.
  I thank Representative Sylvia Garcia for her leadership and for 
introducing this important legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the bill, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  S. 5168 makes a narrow and positive change to U.S. immigration law to 
ensure that alien lighterers have access to visas that allow them to do 
their jobs on ships in U.S. waters.
  Lightering is an offshore ship-to-ship transfer of oil from one oil 
tanker that is too big to travel into a U.S. port to a ship that is 
small enough to enter the port. According to the oil industry, 
lightering is used for over 50 percent of the crude oil imports into 
the United States.
  In order to get the ships in U.S. waters, alien lighterers must 
currently obtain a C-1/D visa, which is a combination of a transit visa 
and a crewmember visa.
  The C visa, or transit visa, allows the lighterer to enter the U.S. 
to board the ship on which he or she will be working. The D visa allows 
the lighterer to work as an alien crewman.
  While the maximum period of stay allowed under the D visa is 29 days, 
the work of the lightering crews normally lasts anywhere from 3 to 6 
months.
  As a workaround to the 29-day limit, once lighterers are present at 
the U.S. port of entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP, 
officers parole them into the United States for a 180-day period.
  Recognizing the importance of the lightering industry and its crews 
to oil supply chain security, CBP has granted lighterers this parole 
under both Democrat and Republican administrations.
  Unfortunately, such a situation is not what was contemplated when 
Congress created the parole authority. Statute requires that parole be 
used only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or 
significant public benefit.
  The Trump administration aimed to rein in executive abuse of the 
parole authority. In doing so, it initially curtailed the use of parole 
for lighterers but soon after returned to allowing the practice.
  S. 5168 recognizes the importance of the lightering industry to the 
security of the oil supply chain. The bill creates a narrowly tailored 
subcategory of C and D visas for aliens performing ``ship-to-ship 
liquid cargo transfer operations to or from another vessel engaged in 
foreign trade.''

                              {time}  1430

  It is very specific to lighterers and allows them to remain in the 
United States for up to 180 days.
  Mr. Speaker, I support this narrow change that will help ensure the 
security of our oil supply chain at a time when the Biden 
administration refuses to allow domestic industries producing energy 
here at home.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Garcia), the sponsor of the bill and a member of the 
Judiciary Committee.
  Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to express my 
strong support for S. 5168, the Energy Security and Lightering 
Independence Act of 2022 by Senators Padilla and Cornyn.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my Senate counterparts for their work on this 
important bipartisan legislation, as well as Chairman Nadler and his 
staff for their efforts in getting this bill to the floor today.
  I am proud to champion and sponsor this bill in the House, and I 
encourage all my colleagues to support the swift passage of this 
bipartisan bill.
  Lightering is the ship-to-ship transfer of crude oil and liquid 
natural gas from a smaller vessel onto a larger vessel, or vice versa, 
for import and export. These ships are just plain too big to come in, 
so smaller ship comes in.
  Approximately, 74 percent of U.S. exports and 44 percent of U.S. 
imports are conducted by lightering. Lightering vessels are foreign-
flagged and therefore staffed with foreign crew. These workers are 
highly trained, skilled, long-term employees whose sole function is to 
work on the lightering and get the transfer done. They are not 
authorized to do any other work offshore or on dock.
  Currently, lightering crews transit through a U.S. port under a C-1/D 
visa, which allows workers a 29-day work period--only 29 days. However, 
under the current structure, lightering crewmembers do not fit well 
into this visa category because they rarely, if ever, transit for less 
than 29 days.
  Because those visas are only valid for up to 29 days and the 
crewmembers' shift is often for 180 days, U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection, as has already been mentioned, must parole these crews to 
extend their visa time consistent with their work schedule. Let's be 
clear--paroles are burdensome for the workers and CBP, and there are 
additional costs to taxpayers.
  These crewmembers are critical to the U.S. supply chain. If 
lightering crewmembers cannot enter the U.S. under a proper visa, 
lightering vessels cannot be appropriately staffed. This could result 
in delays and bottlenecks for U.S. energy exports or imports, impacting 
all of us. We cannot let this happen.
  Therefore, my bill will bolster our energy security to ensure our 
lightering vessels are properly staffed. It makes a necessary technical 
correction to codify an existing State Department practice of issuing 
C-1/D visas for lightering. Again, this simply codifies a practice 
saving taxpayer dollars.
  It would also allow crewmembers of lightering ships to work in the 
United States for up to 180 days in order for them to do their jobs 
thoroughly and completely.
  This bill will bring more clarity to the lightering industry visa 
process for both the workers and all the U.S. Federal agencies 
involved, saving us tax dollars, and making things more efficient.
  It will protect and secure the U.S. energy supply chain, which is a 
very important part of the economy in my district. It has already 
passed out of the Senate with bipartisan, unanimous support.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to sponsor this bill in the House. I thank my 
colleagues from Texas, Messrs. Crenshaw, Weber, Gonzales, Cloud, and 
Mr. Palazzo.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this very 
important piece of legislation, and let's get it to the President's 
desk at a time when we need to ensure that our supply chain continues 
without any issues.
  Mr. Speaker, let's keep America's supply chain strong and please vote 
for this bill.
  Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), a member of the Judiciary Committee.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished chairman, I 
thank the manager, and I thank my colleague, Congresswoman Sylvia 
Garcia from Texas, and Senator Cornyn from Texas, and the other 
sponsors.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge the crucialness of this 
legislation dealing with the lighterers. It is about the economic 
engine that many of us have in our communities, and that is, of course, 
the port, but also the travel and business and the issues of recreation 
that are encountered on large vessels.

[[Page H9927]]

  This bill will give these individuals the time that they need to do 
the proper work safely, rather than the short time of 29 days, to have 
an extended period of time to respond is both, in this climate, an 
economic boost, a recognition of fairness in the immigration process, 
and to recognize the importance of the hard work that the lighterers 
do.
  Mr. Speaker, I congratulate Congresswoman Garcia, Members of the 
other body, and Senator Cornyn for the work that is going to shine a 
light on better productivity and a better economic aspect of this work.
  Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, this legislation makes a modest but 
important technical change to the immigration laws that would improve 
the efficiency of our agencies and of a critical domestic industry.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support it, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, S. 5168.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. ROSENDALE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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