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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | February 3, 2023 03:40 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Jose Giral |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Urging Congress to Exempt Puerto Rico from the Jones Act |
| The Jones Act requires that goods shipped from one American port to another be transported on a ship that is American-built, American-owned, and crewed by U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Although the Jones Act was well intentioned with its national security implications, it has left residents in Puerto Rico, and other non-contiguous states and territories such as Alaska and Hawaii, reeling from increased costs. Worse, because of recent changes to the waiver process, it is now even harder to grant emergency waivers to allow foreign ships to dock. This severely limits the effectiveness of responses to emergencies, such as hurricanes. At the same time, the U.S. Virgin Islands is exempt from the Jones Act and has no desire to change that status. Clearly, this is a sign that the Jones Act hurts these communities more than it helps them. For this reason, I am introducing a resolution urging Congress to exempt Puerto Rico and other non-contiguous states and territories from the Jones Act. The residents of these places deserve relief from inflated prices for basic goods and should be afforded flexibility in times of emergency. Please join me in co-sponsoring this very important and worthwhile resolution. |
Introduced as HR62