By Kevin McCauley
The Transportation Institute, a trade group of the U.S. merchant marine sector, has hired Breaux Lott Leadership Group, to keep an eye on the new Republican Congress.
Former Senators Trent Lott and John Breaux are leading the effort at the Patton Boggs subsidiary. A focus will be to fend off any challenge to the Jones Act of 1920, which restricts shipping and passenger trade with the U.S. to American-flagged ships.
Officially called the Merchant Marine Act, the measure also requires that 75 percent of crew of a U.S.-owned ship must be American citizens.
Some conservatives consider the Jones Act “protectionist measure” and a sop to labor unions. President Obama took heavy heat from Fox News and Tea Party advocates for failing to waive the provisions of the Jones Act to enable foreign vessels to help clean-up efforts within three miles of American shores. About 15 foreign skimmers were active beyond that zone of exclusion.
The U.S. merchant marine has been in decline since the end of WWII. The U.S. now ranks No. 18 in the number of oceangoing vessels and 20th in tonnage, according to the Transportation Institute.
|