McCain Amendment to Keystone Pipeline Bill Blasted as a Job Killer by Sea Captains’ Union

[Omaha Steve]

For Immediate Release January 23, 2015



McCain Amendment to Keystone Pipeline Bill Blasted as a Job Killer by Sea Captains’ Union



International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots Asks: If Keystone is a “Jobs Bill” Why Would Congress Want to Send 400,000 Maritime Jobs in 26 States Overseas?



WASHINGTON – S.1, the Keystone XL Pipeline Act, has been described as a “jobs bill” by the pipeline’s proponents since Keystone XL was first proposed, but a new amendment introduced by Arizona Sen. John McCain would turn S.1 into a “job killer” of epic and irreversible proportions. The McCain amendment would gut a significant part of the Jones Act, a set of laws dating back to the 1920s that has helped build and maintain a domestic shipbuilding industry. Maritime unions and maritime industry groups are now mobilizing against the amendment’s passage. Among those actively opposing passage are the Maritime Labor Alliance and its coalition of maritime unions, and others in maritime and transportation labor, along with the Shipbuilders Council of America and the American Maritime Partnership.



“In Washington sometimes up is down and offense is defense, but an amendment that seeks to eliminate highly-skilled steady middle-class jobs employing hundreds of thousands of our countrymen should never be called good for America,” said Captain Don Marcus, who serves as the President of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots, a union representing sea captains and deck officers on U.S. flagged vessels. “This is beyond hypocrisy,” he added.



McCain’s amendment, which has nothing to do with a pipeline that traverses the largely landlocked states of the Great Plains, seeks to repeal the build provisions of the Jones Act, the cabotage laws that require ships plying domestic waters to be built in the United States.



If S.1 is passed with McCain’s amendment included, it would decimate the nation’s shipping industry, eliminating as many as 400,000 U.S. jobs spread over 26 states, lead to the closing of shipyards and related industries, reduce GDP by an estimated $36 billion and erase $24 billion in American workers’ wages and benefits, according to figures compiled by the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department.



Using Florida as an example, 21,890 shipyard jobs generating $1.6 billion in annual economic activity would be at risk, including more than $1 billion in labor income, according to the U.S Maritime Administration.



The economic threat to their state’s largest private sector business is why Mississippi Senators, Republicans Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker, have publicly opposed McCain’s amendment. Shipbuilding represents 23,450 jobs in Mississippi. The industry's economic impact to the Gulf Coast state's GDP is $2 billion, according to figures from the American Maritime Partnership.



Senators from across the aisle, including Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), oppose the change to the Jones Act. Both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have significant shipbuilding industries.



The parties that would most benefit from this amendment are heavily subsidized foreign shipping competitors not subject to U.S. laws, regulations, environmental standards and taxes. Inexplicably, Senator McCain and his supporters would rather see fuel and cargo hauled in U.S. waters on tankers and freighters built overseas and operated by foreign crews rather than American-made ships staffed by U.S. citizens. “It’s outrageous that John McCain is doing this,” said Marcus.



Beyond the threat to the domestic economy, this amendment would also threaten national security by destabilizing the military’s strategic sealift needs. The Jones Act ensures that the U.S. has a reliable source of domestically built ships and skilled American crews available for its military and humanitarian aid operations. “Without the sealift capability and American maritime jobs provided by the Jones Act and the Maritime Security Program,” said Marcus, “the U.S. Armed Forces would be forced to rely on foreign-flag ships and crews with unknown loyalties to transport critical military cargo and personnel to overseas operations. Bad idea.” Among the groups that have voiced opposition to the McCain Amendment is the Navy League of the United States.



For more information on the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots, please visit www.bridgedeck.org http://bridgedeck.org/



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[Godhumor]

1. I work in a Jones Act industry

McCain has been trying to remove the Jones Act since he got into congress.


That said, the shipbuilding part of the act is problematic. On the Great Lakes, a new freighter entirely built in the US can run up to 100 million dollars...a number not a single GL fleet can afford. Only two new vessels have been introduced onto the lakes since 2000. And, frankly, the fleets are aging. The last great building wave was in the 1970s when the government heavily subsidized the building of boats. It will be interesting to see how it will respond as vessels start being scrapped without replacements lined up.

[catnhatnh]

2. The Jones act had an unsavory birth...

"Wesley Livsey Jones (October 9, 1863 – November 19, 1932) was an American politician. Jones was born near Bethany, Illinois, and attended Southern Illinois College. Jones started a law practice in Decatur, Illinois, and later relocated to North Yakima, Washington.

Jones served in the House of Representatives from 1899 to 1909 and as a Republican United States Senator from Washington from 1909 until his death in 1932. He served as the Senate majority whip between 1924 and 1929. He was a successful advocate for federal investment in Pacific Northwest, securing funding for several irrigation projects and funding for the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington. In 1920 he sponsored and secured passage of the Jones Merchant Marine Act, which stipulated that only American ships could carry cargo between American ports, thereby making Alaska dependent on Seattle-based shipping."

The original intent was to make Alaska dependent upon Seattle to their own detriment.

The maneuverings that helped pass the act are (lightly) fictionalized in James Mitchener's "Alaska".

[dhill926]

3. quite a patriot, that McCain....

[djean111]

4. Don't know if this will be relevant, but the TPP will require any government contracts

over a certain dollar amount to be up for bids by all signatory countries.
So, this might be moot.

[Cha]

5. This needs more Exposure.. Water Is Wet/Repubs LIE.. thanks Steve.. Thank you,

[mercuryblues]

6. McCain

Doing everything he can to destroy America. One industry at a time.

http://www.dailypress.com/business/dp-nws-jones-act-letter-20150123-story.html

Sen. John McCain appears to have been stymied — at least for now — in his attempt to repeal a 1920 law that protects U.S. shipping, which will be welcome news to the maritime industry..

<snip>

McCain had attached the provision as an amendment to an unrelated bill on the Keystone Pipeline. Amendments on Keystone came up for debate Thursday night, but McCain's was never considered, according to the office of Sen. Mark Warner, whose staffers followed the action.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cut off debate late in the evening and scheduled a final vote on Keystone for next week, according to media reports.

Thursday's action doesn't mean McCain's idea is dead. The powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee could attempt to revive the issue by other means.