[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 1324]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        DEFENDING THE JONES ACT

  Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on the Jones Act, an 
important law for our Nation's maritime industry and for our national 
security. Senator McCain has filed an amendment to repeal the Jones 
Act, and I urge its defeat.
  In Louisiana, we know how important the maritime industry and Jones 
Act-related jobs are to our State and our economy. According to the 
American Maritime Partnership, Louisiana leads the Nation in maritime 
jobs by a number of measurements of the domestic maritime economy. For 
domestic maritime employment, Louisiana has more jobs than any other 
State--55,000 jobs out of close to 500,000 nationwide. Louisiana also 
leads the Nation in per capita maritime jobs, with 1 in 83 jobs being 
tied to our domestic maritime industries, nearly twice that of any 
other State. For total economic output from domestic maritime activity, 
Louisiana again leads the nation with more than $11 billion per year.
  Louisiana's 2,800 miles of navigable waterways handle more waterborne 
commerce than any other State. Tugboats based in Louisiana facilitate 
entry of cargo into the Mississippi River and then up the river and 
throughout the Nation on our inland waterways. This vast infrastructure 
and the maritime operators using it directly benefit the entire Nation. 
For example, 60 percent of export grain travels to the Gulf of Mexico 
through Louisiana. Also, one-fifth of our domestic energy is produced 
off the coast of Louisiana with support from the domestic fleet of 
offshore workboats.
  The Jones Act helps ensure the strength and stability of our domestic 
maritime industry, and it will help ensure that it continues to 
flourish. These jobs and the economic benefits from them would be at 
risk if the Jones Act were repealed. I have no doubt that our 
industries can and will compete effectively against their counterparts 
around the world. However, they cannot compete fairly against the heavy 
subsidization that foreign governments give to their industries. Also, 
there cannot be fair competition when foreign vessels are not subjected 
to the same requirements for safety, fuel containers, labor standards, 
training, incidental vessel discharges, other environmental 
regulations, taxes, and more that our industries have to follow.
  Also, the Jones Act is vital to the military as it protects our 
national security. In order to ensure our Navy remains the best 
equipped and most powerful Navy in the world, we must have a domestic 
skills base and shipbuilding capacity. Also, we need to have an 
adequate domestic fleet to ensure the fast and secure delivery of vital 
military cargoes around the world.
  For our homeland security, the Jones Act helps keep our ports and 
waterways safer from attack. Imagine if our inland waterways and ports 
were fully open to foreign vessels. The Coast Guard and our other law 
enforcement agencies would have no real, effective way to know if 
vessels are safe as they travel through our river communities, if the 
crews are properly licensed for the vessel's operation, or if anyone or 
anything on the vessels pose a risk. The Jones Act helps our first 
responders and law enforcement better know any potential threats and 
allows them to be better prepared to act in an emergency.
  In short, any legislation to repeal or lessen the protections of the 
Jones Act would threaten jobs, economic growth, military strength, and 
homeland security. I will continue working to support the U.S. maritime 
industry.

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