Seventeen days ago, 09/28/17, the White House announced, to much fanfare, that President Trump had agreed to waive the Jones Act, which would lift shipping restrictions on Puerto Rico and enable the hurricane-ravaged island to receive necessary aid from any ship flying any country’s flag, rather than from U.S. owned and flagged ships only.
To far less fanfare was the fact that the waiver would only last 10 days.
“The Department of Homeland Security said that 14 ships notified the government under the September 28 waiver and three have completed their journeys to Puerto Rico. Only one of the 14 foreign-owned vessels is delivering FEMA aid to the island.
“Most humanitarian relief supplies are being delivered by U.S. government (DHS, FEMA and DoD [Department of Defense]) assets, or Jones Act-qualified vessels,” said DHS spokesman David Lapan.
Ships operating under the Sept. 28 waiver must have loaded their cargo by the October 8 deadline and have until October 18 to transport their cargo to Puerto Rico.” ~Alex Daugherty, Miami Herald
Lawmakers in Congress on both sides of the party divide have been been pushing for a one-year waiver to help speed up deliveries of food, fuel and other critical supplies to Puerto Rico, which even the most optimistic estimates will have large portions of the population without electricity for another four to six months.
As of yet, no progress has been made.
Sen. John McCain, a longtime opponent of the Jones Act, has called on Congress to pass a permanent Jones Act exemption for Puerto Rico.
Senator McCain is on record as saying; “Now that the temporary Jones Act waiver for Puerto Rico has expired, it is more important than ever for Congress to pass my bill to permanently exempt Puerto Rico from this archaic and burdensome law,” McCain, R-Arizona, said in a statement. “Until we provide Puerto Rico with long-term relief, the Jones Act will continue to hinder much-needed efforts to help the people of Puerto Rico recover and rebuild from Hurricane Maria.”
There are presently 55 ships docked in San Juan, with 30 or more expected this weekend. Transporting goods throughout the island after arriving in port remains the biggest challenge in Puerto Rico. The Jones Act only applies to goods traveling by sea, evenso, Puerto Rico Governor, Ricardo Rosselló says, “In this emergency phase while we’re looking to sustain and save lives we should have all of the assets at hand.” “I don’t know what the results are of that Jones Act, again, we only had it for 10 days. It still needs to be analyzed. It couldn’t hurt; it couldn’t hurt to have it.”
I agree. Ten days is not enough. Ideally Puerto Rico should receive a permanent exemption from the Jones Act, as Senator McCain proposes. At the very least a six month waiver should be allowed.
It is beyond ridiculous that a president, who according to Politifact, has spent 29 days of this year golfing, only saw fit to give Puerto Rico 10 days of relief from the archaic and burdensome law known as the Jones Act.
Come on Mr. President, sign another waiver! It would take less energy than tossing a roll of paper towels into a crowd, and be much more helpful.