Posted:
January 4, 2012
By Paul Doell
Legislative Director
Our thanks to the deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO members and applicants for AMO membership who contributed to the American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund in 2011. The money you directed to the fund was a practical investment in long-term job and benefit security for all seagoing AMO members and their families, and there was substantial return on this investment.
Midway through the 112th Congress, we can report that the Jones Act and the cargo preference laws are intact, and that the Maritime Security Program is funded at the authorized level in fiscal 2012. PL-480, the humanitarian food export program that is so important to several AMO employers, is funded at nearly $1.5 billion - much more than many had anticipated under current federal budget conditions.
These central elements of U.S. maritime policy provide jobs for deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO members, including the new employment resulting from the addition of 18 vessels to the AMO fleet in 2011.
In addition, a bill signed into law late in the year restored domestic trading privileges to three U.S.-built, U.S.-owned liquefied natural gas tankers that had sailed for a time under a foreign flag. These ships will carry ethane from Pennsylvania to Texas under the Jones Act - and American Maritime Officers will fill the licensed positions on each of the vessels. This one-of-a-kind domestic service and these new AMO jobs are expected to begin following completion of a pipeline link and other shoreside infrastructure in 2013.
A leadership role ...
Our union's legislative staff in Washington took a leadership role on these issues and others, working closely with Brenda Otterson, legislative consultant to American Maritime Officers Service - a trade association of U.S. deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters merchant vessel operating companies that employ AMO members and applicants. When it comes to the legislative agenda, the interests of AMO and of these employers are mutual.
In 2011, the legislative staff participated independently in more than 100 meetings with members of the House of Representatives and the Senate and with key Congressional staff. These meetings were in addition to Congressional calls made jointly with U.S. maritime industry coalitions, legislative hearings and coalition conferences.
Each of these activities is critical to American Maritime Officers as the nation's largest union of merchant marine officers, but frequent direct Congressional contact is by far the most important. However, AMO cannot make a clear, consistent and credible Capitol Hill case for the U.S. merchant fleet without the opportunity to do so - and this opportunity expands in direct proportion to the strength of the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund.
... and the AMO VPAF
The AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund is supported entirely by personal contributions made by AMO members, applicants, officials and employees. These contributions can be made directly via check or money order, through the official AMO Web site or through authorized payroll deductions or deductions from vacation benefits.
No AMO membership dues or initiation fee receipts are steered into the fund. The AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund pays no salaries and covers no AMO official or employee benefits. The fund does not cover business expenses.
The AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund is used exclusively to support the re-election campaigns of federal lawmakers known to support the U.S. merchant fleet and American merchant mariners. Neither party affiliation nor political ideology is a factor behind campaign contributions made from the fund. Disbursements from the fund are distributed equally, or close to it, between Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives. The only criterion we apply is a candidate's demonstrated commitment to U.S. merchant vessels and the jobs these vessels provide. And maritime policy is the only issue we discuss on either side of the political divide in Congress.
All of the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund contribution and financial disclosure documents required by the Federal Election Commission are available on the FEC Web site (see sidebar).
Unsettled issues
Our union has done well in Washington. But we cannot become complacent. We cannot take legislative gain for granted.
The Jones Act and the cargo preference laws are always vulnerable to challenge, and programs like the MSP and PL-480 are subject to annual budget debate. And, at the holiday break, there were several unsettled specific issues.
For example, AMO and AMOS in 2011 were able to short-circuit a move by major U.S. exporters to eliminate or reduce the U.S.-flag cargo preference requirement linked by law to exports financed by the U.S. Export-Import Bank, which must be reauthorized for the long term this year. The statutory U.S.-flag share was safe at the break, but the exporters this year are likely to intensify their effort.
In addition, the House of Representatives in 2011 approved a U.S. Coast Guard authorization bill amendment that would make it more difficult for the Executive Branch to waive the Jones Act unnecessarily, as the Obama administration did 52 times last summer to allow foreign-flagged tankers to carry crude oil drawn down from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve between U.S. ports. The effort now shifts to the Senate, where a companion measure is pending.
Separate measures to free up funding for harbor and channel dredging and to end the discriminatory double taxation of imported cargoes transshipped in the U.S. by water had gained real traction in the House - if these bills are not enacted this year, the opportunities to allow merchant vessels to operate at peak efficiency and to encourage private investment in short sea shipping services will have been lost in the 112th Congress.
American Maritime Officers will be out front on these issues when Congress reconvenes later this month, and we ask that all AMO members and applicants for AMO membership keep us in the fight by participating in the American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund to the greatest possible extent.
Meanwhile, AMO members and applicants with questions about specific issues or our union's support of specific candidates specific candidates can call me anytime at the AMO Washington office at (202) 479-1166 or on my cell at (954) 882-4297. AMO members and applicants are also invited to visit our union's office in the capital and make rounds with the legislative staff if their travel plans bring them to Washington.
A direct link: AMO jobs and the Voluntary Political Action Fund
By Paul Doell
Legislative Director
Our thanks to the deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO members and applicants for AMO membership who contributed to the American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund in 2011. The money you directed to the fund was a practical investment in long-term job and benefit security for all seagoing AMO members and their families, and there was substantial return on this investment.
Midway through the 112th Congress, we can report that the Jones Act and the cargo preference laws are intact, and that the Maritime Security Program is funded at the authorized level in fiscal 2012. PL-480, the humanitarian food export program that is so important to several AMO employers, is funded at nearly $1.5 billion - much more than many had anticipated under current federal budget conditions.
These central elements of U.S. maritime policy provide jobs for deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO members, including the new employment resulting from the addition of 18 vessels to the AMO fleet in 2011.
In addition, a bill signed into law late in the year restored domestic trading privileges to three U.S.-built, U.S.-owned liquefied natural gas tankers that had sailed for a time under a foreign flag. These ships will carry ethane from Pennsylvania to Texas under the Jones Act - and American Maritime Officers will fill the licensed positions on each of the vessels. This one-of-a-kind domestic service and these new AMO jobs are expected to begin following completion of a pipeline link and other shoreside infrastructure in 2013.
A leadership role ...
Our union's legislative staff in Washington took a leadership role on these issues and others, working closely with Brenda Otterson, legislative consultant to American Maritime Officers Service - a trade association of U.S. deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters merchant vessel operating companies that employ AMO members and applicants. When it comes to the legislative agenda, the interests of AMO and of these employers are mutual.
In 2011, the legislative staff participated independently in more than 100 meetings with members of the House of Representatives and the Senate and with key Congressional staff. These meetings were in addition to Congressional calls made jointly with U.S. maritime industry coalitions, legislative hearings and coalition conferences.
Each of these activities is critical to American Maritime Officers as the nation's largest union of merchant marine officers, but frequent direct Congressional contact is by far the most important. However, AMO cannot make a clear, consistent and credible Capitol Hill case for the U.S. merchant fleet without the opportunity to do so - and this opportunity expands in direct proportion to the strength of the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund.
... and the AMO VPAF
The AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund is supported entirely by personal contributions made by AMO members, applicants, officials and employees. These contributions can be made directly via check or money order, through the official AMO Web site or through authorized payroll deductions or deductions from vacation benefits.
No AMO membership dues or initiation fee receipts are steered into the fund. The AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund pays no salaries and covers no AMO official or employee benefits. The fund does not cover business expenses.
The AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund is used exclusively to support the re-election campaigns of federal lawmakers known to support the U.S. merchant fleet and American merchant mariners. Neither party affiliation nor political ideology is a factor behind campaign contributions made from the fund. Disbursements from the fund are distributed equally, or close to it, between Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives. The only criterion we apply is a candidate's demonstrated commitment to U.S. merchant vessels and the jobs these vessels provide. And maritime policy is the only issue we discuss on either side of the political divide in Congress.
All of the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund contribution and financial disclosure documents required by the Federal Election Commission are available on the FEC Web site (see sidebar).
Unsettled issues
Our union has done well in Washington. But we cannot become complacent. We cannot take legislative gain for granted.
The Jones Act and the cargo preference laws are always vulnerable to challenge, and programs like the MSP and PL-480 are subject to annual budget debate. And, at the holiday break, there were several unsettled specific issues.
For example, AMO and AMOS in 2011 were able to short-circuit a move by major U.S. exporters to eliminate or reduce the U.S.-flag cargo preference requirement linked by law to exports financed by the U.S. Export-Import Bank, which must be reauthorized for the long term this year. The statutory U.S.-flag share was safe at the break, but the exporters this year are likely to intensify their effort.
In addition, the House of Representatives in 2011 approved a U.S. Coast Guard authorization bill amendment that would make it more difficult for the Executive Branch to waive the Jones Act unnecessarily, as the Obama administration did 52 times last summer to allow foreign-flagged tankers to carry crude oil drawn down from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve between U.S. ports. The effort now shifts to the Senate, where a companion measure is pending.
Separate measures to free up funding for harbor and channel dredging and to end the discriminatory double taxation of imported cargoes transshipped in the U.S. by water had gained real traction in the House - if these bills are not enacted this year, the opportunities to allow merchant vessels to operate at peak efficiency and to encourage private investment in short sea shipping services will have been lost in the 112th Congress.
American Maritime Officers will be out front on these issues when Congress reconvenes later this month, and we ask that all AMO members and applicants for AMO membership keep us in the fight by participating in the American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund to the greatest possible extent.
Meanwhile, AMO members and applicants with questions about specific issues or our union's support of specific candidates specific candidates can call me anytime at the AMO Washington office at (202) 479-1166 or on my cell at (954) 882-4297. AMO members and applicants are also invited to visit our union's office in the capital and make rounds with the legislative staff if their travel plans bring them to Washington.