[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17985]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          PRESERVE U.S. JOBS IN THE PASSENGER VESSEL INDUSTRY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ROBERT A. BORSKI

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 25, 2001

  Mr. BORSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my opposition to a 
proposal to amend the 1886 Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA) by 
designating Panama as a distant foreign port of call. Such designation 
would allow foreign-flag vessels to carry passengers from one U.S. port 
to another U.S. port, provided only that the vessels stop in Panama en 
route.
  Under the existing PVSA, vessels making U.S. point-to-point services 
must be owned, built, flagged and manned in the U.S. This statute has 
served our country well for over a century, ensuring a vibrant domestic 
passenger vessel industry that creates and preserves jobs in the U.S. 
Designating Panama as a distant foreign port would create no U.S. jobs, 
generate no economic benefits for the U.S., and result in no new 
business for U.S.-flag cruise vessels. Only foreign-flag--which pay no 
U.S. corporate income taxes, operate largely outside of U.S. laws, and 
employ foreign labor--would benefit from this misguided proposal.
  The PVSA authorizes the U.S. Customs Service to provide the 
flexibility needed to meet the needs of the cruise industry public 
while at the same time preserving important national interests. By 
arbitrarily designating Panama as a distant foreign port, Congress 
would supersede the regulatory authority of Customs and contravene the 
longstanding purposes of the PVSA to bar foreign vessels from engaging 
in domestic transportation. Such an act would also create a dangerous 
precedent that could have even graver implications for U.S. cargo 
transportation governed by the Jones Act.
  Mr. Speaker, the proponents of the Panama proposal hope to include it 
as an amendment to the Coast Guard Authorization bill. I urge my 
colleagues to strongly oppose this misguided attempt to undermine one 
of our nation's most important maritime laws.

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