Ocean Shipping Reform Implementation Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I rise in support of H.R. 1836, as amended.

The Ocean Shipping Reform Implementation Act is bipartisan legislation championed by my colleagues, Representative Dusty Johnson and Representative Garamendi. This bill improves upon the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022, which passed into law last Congress.

Throughout the pandemic, Members of Congress from across the country were hearing from shippers in their districts about problems importing and exporting cargo. This bill protects American importers and exporters, standardizes data, establishes the National Port and National Ocean Carrier Advisory Committees, and builds upon efforts to improve the resiliency of the U.S. supply chain.

I thank Representative Dusty Johnson and Representative Garamendi for their work on this legislation, and I thank Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Larsen for their continued support.

Madam Speaker, the Ocean Shipping Reform Implementation Act is bipartisan legislation that will protect American importers and exporters and build upon past efforts to improve the resiliency of the U.S. supply chain.

Madam Speaker, I support this bill. I encourage my colleagues to do the same, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Madam Speaker, I serve on the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and we have heard expert after expert talk to us about the Chinese Government working to get coercive economic power over our country and, frankly, every other country in the world, and one of the primary tools of that push for coercive economic power is data.

One real focus of this bill before us is that it makes it harder for the Chinese Communist Party to be able to use the Shanghai Shipping Exchange or the LOGINK platform to be able to gather up all of this exquisite data about the world's supply chains and shipping information and have it be used against our country and others.

This also builds upon the strong bipartisan track record that Mr. Menendez spoke of, and it will make for a fuller and fairer supply chain and ocean shipping environment.

Madam Speaker, I would urge support of this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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