Introduction of the Close Agency Loopholes to the Jones Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, today I introduce the ``Close Agency Loopholes to the Jones Act,'' which would close early 50 years of anti- Jones Act decisions, known as ``letter rulings'', by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

As chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and having served as ranking member of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation from 2013 to 2018, I am committed to rebuilding the U.S.-flagged fleet including international and Jones Act vessels. For nearly 50 years, Congress has stood idly by while federal regulators made bad decision after bad decision chipping away at the Jones Act, allowing foreign vessels paying poverty wages to take jobs from Americans working in our maritime industry. That stops today.

In December 2020, Congress enacted my amendment to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act as section 9503 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 116-283) affirming that the application of the Constitution, laws, and civil and political jurisdiction of the United States to the Outer Continental Shelf also applies to non-mineral energy resources and exploring for, developing, producing, transporting, or transmitting such resources. As I stated in my remarks on September 24, 2020 (Congressional Record, Vol. 166, No. 166), Congress always intended U.S. law to apply to any form of exploration, development, production, transportation, and transmission of energy resources under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953.

On January 25, 2021, President Biden's first executive order (no.14005) after assuming office directed federal agencies to maximize the use of American mariners, American-built ships, and U.S.-flagged vessels under the Jones Act. In response to my amendment enacted in the FY12 NDAA, Customs and Border Protection issued a headquarters ruling letter ``HQ H309186'' on January 27, 2021, correctly holding that the transportation of ``scour protection'' materials from the Port of Providence, Rhode Island to a wind project on the Outer Continental Shelf off the southeast shore of Martha's Vineyard is a coastwise activity under the Jones Act.

On March 17, 2021, the national trade association for the offshore wind industry sent a letter to the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection requesting that the agency withdraw HQ H309186. In this letter, the offshore wind industry mischaracterized my September 2020, remarks from the Congressional Record as somehow supporting its request that Customs and Border Protection withdraw the January 27, 2021, letter ruling. On March 25, 2021, Customs and Border Protection issued a revised headquarters ruling letter (HQ H317289) contradicting its January 2021 letter ruling and the President's policy to allow foreign vessels to construct energy projects on the Outer Continental Shelf.

To be clear, my September 2020 remarks in the Congressional Record state that my amendment to Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act simply clarified that all forms of offshore energy development are indeed subject to the same U.S. laws that apply to the offshore oil and gas industry. That does not mean that I accept the validity of the many administrative loopholes to the Jones Act created by decades of bad letter rulings and poor enforcement by Customs and Border Protection. Rather, I have long held that many of the activities regulators have incorrectly allowed the offshore oil and gas industry to engage in using foreign-flagged vessels are clear violations of the plain text of the Jones Act and original Congressional intent.

It is now clear to me that the regulators at Customs and Border Protection are unwilling to fully implement the Jones Act, as directed by President Biden's Executive Order 14005. My `Closing Agency Loopholes to the Jones Act' would finally force federal regulators to enforce the law as Congress intended in 1920, maximizing job opportunities for American mariners, U.S.-flagged vessels, and domestic shipyard workers. In effect, my legislation would also compel Customs and Border Protection to implement the President's stated policy by fully enforcing the Jones Act.

Madam Speaker, I encourage all members of the House to cosponsor this critical and long overdue legislation.

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