The following letter was sent to President Donald Trump on June 30.
Dear Mr. President:
We appreciate your longstanding support and attention to the challenges facing our domestic shipping industry. We write to respectfully request that the current Jones Act waiver be allowed to expire as scheduled on August 16, 2026, and encourage you to utilize alternative policy tools to address fuel and fertilizer costs while preserving the strength of the American maritime industry.
As you outlined in your visionary Maritime Action Plan (MAP), a strong maritime industrial base is essential to the nation’s economic and national security, particularly as the United States works to reinforce its global strategic position. Your acknowledgement in the MAP that less than one percent of new commercial ships are built in the United States underscores the importance of protecting durable domestic maritime policy and safeguarding against foreign encroachment in our nation’s waterways.
Our nation’s strongest shield against foreign exploitation of American waterways is the Jones Act, which requires vessels transporting cargo between U.S. ports to be American-built, American-owned, American-crewed, and American-flagged. As with similar laws governing other modes of transportation, the Jones Act ensures that domestic waterborne commerce is conducted by U.S. vessels and mariners rather than by heavily subsidized foreign competitors. Over time, it has helped sustain a safe and reliable commercial fleet, supporting hundreds of thousands of well-paying American maritime jobs and moving more than 760 million tons of domestic cargo each year, including agricultural products, petroleum, steel, coal, and other essential commodities.
At the same time, the domestic maritime industry is deeply concerned about the length, scope, and possible extension of the current Jones Act waiver, which was issued in part to address increases in fuel and fertilizer prices. In practice, foreign-flagged vessels have operated under the waiver even in circumstances where U.S.-flagged vessels were available, creating understandable concern about the effect on American jobs, manufacturing, and investment. According to data from the Maritime Administration, approximately 95 percent of completed waiver voyages primarily benefit foreign maritime operators that do not pay U.S. taxes or comply with U.S. immigration laws.
In short, the Jones Act waiver has become a loophole exploited by adversarial countries to erode America’s maritime dominance. For these reasons, we respectfully request that you allow the waiver to expire on August 16, 2026.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter. We stand ready to support your continued efforts to strengthen American economic and maritime dominance.
Sincerely,
James Comer, Chairman, House Oversight Committee
Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House
Steve Scalise, House Majority Leader
Sam Graves, Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Charles J. “Chuck” Fleischmann, Member of Congress
Randy K. Weber, Sr., Member of Congress
Aaron Bean, Member of Congress
John H. Rutherford, Member of Congress
Robert J. Wittman, Member of Congress
Jen A. Kiggans, Member of Congress
Andy Harris, M.D., Member of Congress
Christopher H. Smith, Member of Congress
Nicole Malliotakis, Member of Congress
Michael V. Lawler, Member of Congress
Nick LaLota, Member of Congress
Mary E. Miller, Member of Congress
Andrew R. Garbarino, Member of Congress
Michael Guest, Member of Congress
Clay Higgins, Member of Congress
Julia Letlow, Ph.D., Member of Congress
Mike Rogers, Member of Congress
Robert B. Aderholt, Member of Congress
Dale W. Strong, Member of Congress
David Kustoff, Member of Congress
Brett Guthrie, Member of Congress
Andy Barr, Member of Congress
Carol D. Miller, Member of Congress
Kat Cammack, Member of Congress
Mark B. Messmer, Member of Congress
Eric A. “Rick” Crawford, Member of Congress
Daniel Webster, Member of Congress
Brian Babin, D.D.S., Member of Congress
David Rouzer, Member of Congress
Mike Bost, Member of Congress
Brian J. Mast, Member of Congress
Pete Stauber, Member of Congress
Tim Burchett, Member of Congress
Jefferson Van Drew, Member of Congress
Mike Ezell, Member of Congress
Jefferson Shreve, Member of Congress
David J. Taylor, Member of Congress
Jimmy Patronis, Member of Congress
Jack Bergman, Member of Congress
Mike Collins, Member of Congress
Harold Rogers, Member of Congress
Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S., Member of Congress
Erin Houchin, Member of Congress
Max L. Miller, Member of Congress
David P. Joyce, Member of Congress
Darin LaHood, Member of Congress
Scott DesJarlais, M.D., Member of Congress
Thomas H. Kean, Jr., Member of Congress