Senator John McCain Launches New Attack on ‘Antiquated’ Jones Act

[Cooley Hurd]

http://gcaptain.com/senator-john-mccain-launches-new-attack-on-jones-act/

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has once again launched an attack on the Jones Act, announcing Tuesday that he has filed an amendment to a bill to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline that would repeal the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, aka the Jones Act, requiring that all goods shipped between ports of the United States be carried by vessels built in the United States and owned and operated by Americans.

“I have long advocated for a full repeal of The Jones Act, an antiquated law that has for too long hindered free trade, made U.S. industry less competitive and raised prices for American consumers,” said Senator John McCain in a press release issued Tuesday. “The amendment I am introducing again today would eliminate this unnecessary, protectionist restriction.

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Responding to Senator McCain’s new attack, the American Maritime Partnership, representing the voice of the U.S. domestic maritime, has issued the following statement obviously opposing McCain’s latest actions:

WASHINGTON, DC – American Maritime Partnership (AMP), the voice of the domestic maritime industry, today released the following statement on Senator John McCain’s recent measure to eliminate the U.S. shipbuilding industry, which is critical to supporting America’s military power and defense needs, employs hundreds of thousands of Americans, and pumps tens of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy.

“The McCain amendment would gut the nation’s shipbuilding capacity, outsource our U.S. Naval shipbuilding to foreign builders, and cost hundreds of thousands of family-wage jobs across this country,” said AMP Chairman Tom Allegretti. “The shipbuilding requirement, which Senator McCain seeks to eliminate, is in place to ensure that the United States maintains the industrial capacity to build its own ships, so as to protect and defend the American homeland. It is hard to believe that the Congress would endorse a change to the law that would outsource U.S. jobs and reduce national security by effectively creating dependence on foreign countries to build our ships.”

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[Turbineguy]

1. There's a tradition among Naval officers

(former or present day) to despise the Jones Act. It's a religious issue. Mostly it stems from the fact that civilian mariners are paid more. Of course what they forget is that when you man a vessel with 20 people instead of several hundred, you save money in the end.

Also they ignore the nice bennies they get. That and they hate Unions too. And then there's the financial accountability of poor personnel management of working people 12-15 hours a day. Civilians get overtime pay.

[abelenkpe]

2. When is that labor hating fool McCain

Going to retire?