Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Madam President, let me just join my friend and colleague and neighbor from across the border, Senator Klobuchar, in just acknowledging the passage of something that is really important and credit to her staff, who I know worked tirelessly on this, and members of my staff--in particular Chance Costello--who worked tirelessly trying to find that common ground and thread the needle to get this done in a way that would expedite its passage here in the Senate.

As Senator Klobuchar pointed out, the leadership on the Commerce Committee--Senators Cantwell and Wicker--and their staffs also were instrumental in helping us get this across the finish line. But as Senator Klobuchar pointed out, I think this is a good example of how, if you are willing to keep grinding and keep working at it, you can come up with solutions that are bipartisan and solutions that really get at problems that we are facing in this country.

I don't think anybody would argue that we have a supply chain crisis in America. It has heightened the importance of addressing some of these shipping challenges; and our legislation, although it may not be the end-all, certainly takes us a long way toward addressing what have been identified as many of the problems associated with trying to get the goods and products through our port system into the United States and, as importantly, trying to get those products, those things that we raise and grow and manufacture here in the United States, to their destinations around the world.

And there have been lots of examples which Senator Klobuchar has alluded to that she and I and our staffs have, in visiting with stakeholders out there, people who were impacted by these bottlenecks that exist today--as we have listened to them, much of that input and feedback was incorporated into this legislation.

So it does take strong measures to help tackle supply chain slowdowns, and it does level the playing field for American exporters, including South Dakota ag producers. It does this in several ways. She has covered it well, but let me just briefly touch on a couple of things. It does this by giving the FMC, or the Federal Maritime Commission, new authorities to crack down on unfair ocean carrier practices, whether that is a refusal to carry certain cargoes or discrimination against certain commodities for export.

We have all heard these examples--Senator Klobuchar alluded to this-- of containers leaving the ports in the United States that are empty, filled with air, or the carriers making determinations based upon the value of certain products instead of--and then assessing detention and demurrage fees sometimes on shippers that are unfair and unrelated, really, to anything that they have done.

So providing the FMC with more tools to quickly resolve detention disputes, bringing greater efficiency and transparency to a process that leaves many shippers frustrated--and especially small businesses-- is what this legislation is all about. These improvements, we believe, are going to bring long-term, positive changes to the maritime supply chain, which I hope will benefit not only exporters but importers and consumers alike.

The legislation not only levels the playing field for producers in South Dakota and across the Nation, but it will also benefit exporters, small businesses, and, as I said, consumers across this country.

So I hope, as she does, that our colleagues in the House will be able to take this up and pass it. There has been some good work done there already, much of it by my colleague in South Dakota, a Member of the congressional delegation from our State, Dusty Johnson, who has been the leader on this legislation in the House of Representatives when it passed earlier this year. And now, we have our chance here in the U.S. Senate.

And it is a product of a tremendous amount of work. Senator Klobuchar's staff and my staff spent not weeks but months negotiating-- and, you know, there are always disagreements. There are always differences. Of course, when you present it to the rest of our colleagues on the Senate Commerce Committee, they have their ideas, unique ideas, about things that they want to fix and change and make better. So it went through that process.

But, ultimately, when we brought it up for consideration in front of the Senate Commerce Committee, there were some amendments that were offered and voted on. People got a chance to have their voices heard. A lot of the ideas that people had were incorporated into the base text, but, ultimately, when it was voted out, it was voted out of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee unanimously. It came out without a dissenting vote, and that, I think, set us up here on the floor of the U.S. Senate to process in a way that, again, included a high level of bipartisanship.

And I credit, too--as we brought it to the floor, there were a couple of issues we had to again deal with, individual Members who had concerns--some with the legislation, some with other issues. But as is always the case here in the U.S. Senate, an individual Senator can assert their rights in a way that enables them, gives them leverage on the process; but we were able to work through those things, and that product today has now passed the U.S. Senate.

Hopefully, if the House is inclined to do so, it would be great if they would pick it up, pass it, put it on the President's desk, and have him sign it into law because I think it will take us a long way down the road toward leveling that playing field and addressing many of the concerns that have been identified by our exporters.

I know that the farm organizations in my State of South Dakota have been very active in influencing this, very concerned about the bottlenecks and their ability to reach export destinations in a way that allows them to maximize their profitability and, in doing so, increase the prosperity of people all across the Midwest in States that we represent where agriculture is the No. 1 industry.

So congrats to those who worked on this, again, to the staff who have labored, and to my colleague from Minnesota. This is not the first time we have collaborated on issues. We share not only a border but, obviously, a lot of commonality in terms of the issues that impact our States; and this is one in particular where I think the farmers, ranchers, small business people, manufacturers in Minnesota and in South Dakota will all derive a benefit once it is enacted into law.

We are going to do everything we can now to continue to press forward. We have gotten it this far. We need to now get some additional action by the House of Representatives. I am not sure exactly what that looks like, whether that is going to conference with them. Preferably, obviously, they pick up and pass this bill, put it on the President's desk and turn it into law.

I am pleased to be able to be a part of this and to get a result today.

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Mr. THUNE. I would be happy to yield to our colleague and the chairman of the Senate Ag Committee, who also has big equities in this discussion.

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