Front Page |
 |
 |
Policy Issues Unsettled As House, Senate Resume Work |
|
|
|
|
By MICHAEL R. McKAY | |
|
Funding of the Maritime Security Program in fiscal 2001 and other important matters were awaiting the 106th Congress upon its Sept. 5 return from summer recess. MSP was authorized through 2005 by the Maritime Security Act of 1996. At a total 10-year cost of $1 billion, the program provides operating assistance to 47 U.S.-flag merchant ships serving in commercial foreign trade. Each ship draws $2.1 million a year, but the money must be appropriated annually. In exchange for the aid, the ships, their crews, and all intermodal and logistics support equipment owned by participating companies are to be made available to the Department of Defense as needed for strategic sealift and other services in national security emergencies. The House has approved $98.7 million for MSP in the fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The amount is enough to cover the entire MSP fleet. The MSP allotment--included in the appropriations bill for the Departments of Commerce, Justice and State and the Judiciary--must now be approved in the Senate, where the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, chaired by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, has already authorized the full amount. AMO represents the engine and deck officers on seven ships enrolled in MSP--the container ships Maersk Texas, Maersk Tennessee, Maersk Colorado and Maersk California, operated by Maersk Line Ltd., and the car carriers Faust, Fidelio and Tanabata, operated by American V Ships Marine. The House and Senate Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary appropriations bills also include $50 million for the Maritime Administration's merchant ship construction loan and mortgage guarantee program authorized in Title XI of the 1936 Merchant Marine Act. The total is the amount recommended by U.S. shipbuilders, ship operators, and seagoing unions to cover current and forthcoming projects worth more than $1 billion in private investment. Contrary to common misunderstanding, Title XI is not a subsidy program. Title XI simply backs commercial credit for shipbuilding, making it easier for companies to obtain and manage financing from private sources. Each dollar appropriated for Title XI frees up an estimated $20 in private ship construction capital. Among the ventures boosted by Title XI was American Classic Voyages Co.'s Project America, which will result in at least three additional U.S.-flag cruise ships--one foreign-built reflagged vessel, which will enter Hawaiian Islands service as the Patriot in December, and two newly built ships now under construction at Litton Ingalls in Pascagoula, Miss. The newbuildings will operate in Hawaii beginning in 2003 and 2004, and AMO will man the three vessels in all licensed ratings. Also dependent on Title XI funding is the SeaAmerica Cruise Line project, which will yield at least two additional large U.S.-built ocean-going U.S.-flag cruise ships for service in domestic markets in full compliance with the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886. The first SeaAmerica ship has a target delivery in 2003. Also on the Congressional agenda is a proposed waiver of a key U.S.-flag cargo preference requirement. Under current law, a foreign-built U.S.-flag ship or foreign-built ship reflagged American must operate in U.S. registry for three years before it can be eligible to carry government cargoes set aside under three statutes and a Congressional resolution for U.S.-built and flagged ships. The proposed waiver--opposed by AMO--would open the preference door to foreign-built U.S.-flag ships for one year. The waiver proposal is awaiting consideration by a House-Senate conference committee. A separate House-Senate conference committee must also agree on funding for PL-480 food aid exports by the Department of Agriculture. By law, up to 75 percent of such cargoes are reserved for U.S.-flag ships. These are major issues for our union. We have a lot of current and forthcoming jobs dependent on MSP, Title XI, and cargo preference, so we will follow developments closely on these fronts. We will also keep a wary eye on the Senate, where the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has approved legislation to waive a key mandate of the 1886 PVSA, which holds domestic cruise markets for vessels owned, built, registered and manned in the U.S. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. McCain, would allow foreign-built cruise vessels to operate directly between U.S. ports under the U.S.-flag. Participating companies would have to commit to the U.S. construction of replacement ships before service by foreign-built ships could commence. There's no question about it--this bill is a lot less objectionable than Sen. McCain's earlier legislation, which would have opened the U.S. coastline to foreign-owned, built, flagged and manned cruise ships. Nevertheless, it represents an unwise and unnecessary breach of a vital cabotage law. The McCain legislation had not been scheduled for a Senate floor vote as of Sept. 5, and there was no House version. Neither development is likely, but the possibilities are always there. We'll also watch for possible last-minute assaults on the Jones Act, the 1920 cabotage law that applies the U.S. ownership, construction, documentation and manning requirements to domestic cargo trades. The Jones Act has been marked for roll-back or repeal since April 1995, but most House and Senate Republicans and Democrats have expressed strong support of the law. Under the most recent proposal from Jones Act critics, foreign-built ships would be allowed to carry farm, livestock, and lumber products and crude oil and petroleum products between deep-sea and Great Lakes points in the U.S. and between the U.S. mainland and remote states and territories. The proposal has been offered with virtually no support in the Senate by Kansas Republican Sam Brownback, but there is no House version. We have to be careful of the midnight maneuver against the Jones Act. We've seen it before on cargo preference and other issues--a lawmaker tacks a bill on to another measure late at night and hopes it slips through. I urge AMO deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters members to join me and the executive board of AMO in continued support of the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund, which helps our union make its legislative case on Capitol Hill. Congress expects to complete its work in October before gearing up for November's elections. The White House, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, and one-third of the Senate seats are up for grabs in the vote, so the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund is especially important now. |
 |
| Front Page |  |
Return To Section-Front |