Posted:
February 3, 2016
Billets on 125 deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland vessels secured by gains on Capitol Hill
By Paul Doell
National President
Having served as our union's legislative director for more than seven years, I can attest personally to the direct, unbreakable link between the American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund and every job held by every AMO member and applicant for AMO membership on every commercial vessel operating under AMO contract in domestic and international trades.
Midway through the 114th Congress at the New Year, long term job and benefit security had been sustained for AMO members employed on some 125 deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters vessels through legislative work in 2015, an especially busy, productive year in Washington.
Significant gains for our union included: a strengthened Maritime Security Program; a four-year reprieve for the Export-Import Bank of the United States; increased funding of the PL-480 "Food for Peace" program and tighter restriction on the diversion of PL-480 money to "local and regional purchase" or cash in lieu of cargoes to recipient countries; and successful defense of the Jones Act on three fronts.
American Maritime Officers - long acknowledged by Capitol Hill insiders as the most politically influential of the three U.S. merchant marine officers' unions - was the licensed labor lead on all these positive developments, calling on all the right House and Senate offices at all the right times, digging deeper into Congressional corners typically inaccessible to the other unions and making a clear, consistent and credible case on each issue.
This unique access, these distinctions and these considerable achievements would not have been possible without the savvy seagoing AMO membership's traditionally strong support of the American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund.
VPAF is used exclusively to support the re-election campaigns of House and Senate members who support the privately owned and operated U.S.-flag merchant fleet and American merchant mariners. Political party affiliation, ideological alignment, and a candidate's stand on issues irrelevant to maritime labor and industry are not factors behind the smart, strategic disbursement of campaign contributions drawn from the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund.
As this summary shows, AMO's accomplishments in 2015 were especially satisfying, given what many observers refer to as Congressional "gridlock," the perceived inability to get things done, and the daunting budget climate.
Maritime Security Program
One week before Christmas, the President signed an omnibus appropriations bill to fund the government through fiscal 2016, which ends next September 30. One provision in the package provided an increase in Maritime Security Program funding from $3.1 million per ship to $3.5 million per ship until fiscal 2017 next October 1. The bill also authorized an MSP increase from $3.5 million per ship per year to $5 million per ship per year for five years, beginning in fiscal year 2017.
These authorized increases and matching appropriations would ensure continued employment for AMO engine and deck officers on at least 15 U.S.-flag container, heavy lift and roll-on/roll-off ships operating in international trade in the MSP's Maritime Security Fleet.
Export-Import Bank
On December 4, the President signed into law a five-year surface transportation measure that included a four-year charter renewal for the Export-Import Bank of the United States, or "Ex-Im Bank." This self-sustaining bank underwrites the overseas sale of goods manufactured in the U.S. In fiscal 2015, Ex-Im Bank transactions exceeded $17 billion in value, supported 109,000 private sector jobs nationwide, and returned $431.6 million to the U.S. Treasury.
Under Public Resolution 17 - adopted in Congress upon creation of the Export-Import Bank in 1934 - 100 percent of the export cargoes triggered by the bank are held for U.S.-flag merchant ships.
For our union, this cargo preference requirement provides an additional boost to the heavy lift and container fleets.
'Food for Peace'
Without question, funding of the PL-480 "Food for Peace" program - specifically, Title II of the law, which provides for the purchase of U.S.-grown farm commodities for humanitarian relief shipment overseas - is the most difficult year-to-year issue addressed by AMO in the capital.
The White House and a bipartisan bloc of House and Senate members prefer risky alternatives to the direct shipment of food aid, including "local and regional purchase" of farm products, cash transfers or vouchers in lieu of commodities, or some combination of both. Some federal agencies and elected officials also object to the application of U.S.-flag cargo preference to PL-480 food aid shipments. Despite these obstacles, the fiscal 2016 omnibus appropriations bill signed by the President included $250 million more for home-grown PL-480 Title II food aid purchases for delivery abroad, and U.S.-flag merchant ships are due at least 50 percent of the resulting volume under the current cargo preference requirement.
Equally important, PL-480 Title II funding cannot be diverted to "local and regional purchase" or to cash or cash equivalents for overseas food purchases.
These modest developments will keep AMO members working on ocean going bulk carriers and on container ships that carry bagged PL-480 grains.
AMO this year will focus not only on PL-480 funding and traditional Title II U.S. sourced commodities and the statutory use of U.S. ships for delivery to recipient countries, but also on restoring the U.S.-flag food aid share to 75 percent. This was the level in place from 1985 until July 2012, when a late night, last minute amendment to a surface transportation bill reduced the U.S.-flag cargo preference amount to 50 percent.
The Jones Act
Last year, we saw a Senate threat to the Jones Act, which holds all domestic waterborne commerce for merchant vessels owned, built, flagged and crewed in the U.S. Though limited in scope by targeting only the law's U.S. construction mandate, this bid would have inspired comparable initiatives against the law's U.S. ownership, registry and manning requirements.
We also saw a concerted effort to tie the Jones Act inappropriately to the financial crisis in Puerto Rico and a powerful push for Jones Act amendment or repeal as part of the legislation that lifted the ban on the export of U.S. crude oil.
Much to the continued frustration of the Jones Act's most ardent and determined critics, all three strategies stalled. But we expect Jones Act challenges to persist this year, especially in the context of Puerto Rico and legislation to assist the Commonwealth - a bill addressing Puerto Rico's difficulties could be crafted as early as March 2016.
Even a narrow Jones Act concession here would encourage business interests seeking Jones Act exemptions for Hawaii and Alaska. Even a thin win in the case of Puerto Rico for Jones Act critics at home would inspire foreign governments - Japan, the European Union, the Nordic countries, Panama, Mexico, Canada and others - to press their longstanding demands for access to U.S. domestic maritime markets for their merchant fleets through multilateral, bilateral and regional trade negotiations.
American Maritime Officers is in the enviable position among the officers' unions of having the most on the line in the ongoing Jones Act debate. AMO engine and deck officers are now at work on oceangoing ships operating between the State of Washington and Alaska, between the U.S. West Coast mainland and Hawaii and between Florida and Puerto Rico.
In addition, AMO holds down the licensed jobs on 25 Jones Act petroleum product tankers and seven articulated tug-barges, and many more Jones Act tankers and dry cargo ships under construction or on order in U.S. shipyards will be added to the AMO deep-sea fleet roster in the next 18 months.
On the Great Lakes, AMO licensed engineers and licensed mates, as well as stewards, fill jobs on 30 self-propelled, self-unloading Jones Act dry bulk carriers and tug-barges and the legendary Lake Michigan car ferry SS Badger.
Inland, AMO contracts cover 41 Jones Act tugs and tug-barges.
The agenda this year
Seagoing AMO members can be comfortable with our union's legislative triumphs in 2015, and they can be proud of their participation in the American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund. But they are cautioned against complacency at this important point.
The Maritime Security Program, all-American food aid sourced and shipped under PL-480, and the Export-Import Bank are subject to annual appropriations agreed to by the House and Senate and signed by the President - authorized spending does not equate automatically to money actually spent on any federal program.
The Jones Act is not a budget issue, but it represents a substantial and increasing number of jobs for AMO. It is our collective responsibility to insulate this law against all challenges arising stateside and abroad.
As always, American Maritime Officers will be steeped in the struggle on these matters and others that may develop. Meanwhile, and on behalf of the National Executive Board of AMO, I extend lasting gratitude to seagoing AMO members and applicants who join us in routine support of the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund. I encourage all others to join in at amounts they can be comfortable with - the fund is a safe, reliable and practical investment option known to yield real return.
I welcome all comments and questions about the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund - feel free to call me on the AMO headquarters office line at 954-921-2221 (Ext. 1001) or on my cell at 954-881-5651.
VPAF: the direct link between legislation and AMO jobs
Billets on 125 deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland vessels secured by gains on Capitol Hill
By Paul Doell
National President
Having served as our union's legislative director for more than seven years, I can attest personally to the direct, unbreakable link between the American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund and every job held by every AMO member and applicant for AMO membership on every commercial vessel operating under AMO contract in domestic and international trades.
Midway through the 114th Congress at the New Year, long term job and benefit security had been sustained for AMO members employed on some 125 deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters vessels through legislative work in 2015, an especially busy, productive year in Washington.
Significant gains for our union included: a strengthened Maritime Security Program; a four-year reprieve for the Export-Import Bank of the United States; increased funding of the PL-480 "Food for Peace" program and tighter restriction on the diversion of PL-480 money to "local and regional purchase" or cash in lieu of cargoes to recipient countries; and successful defense of the Jones Act on three fronts.
American Maritime Officers - long acknowledged by Capitol Hill insiders as the most politically influential of the three U.S. merchant marine officers' unions - was the licensed labor lead on all these positive developments, calling on all the right House and Senate offices at all the right times, digging deeper into Congressional corners typically inaccessible to the other unions and making a clear, consistent and credible case on each issue.
This unique access, these distinctions and these considerable achievements would not have been possible without the savvy seagoing AMO membership's traditionally strong support of the American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund.
VPAF is used exclusively to support the re-election campaigns of House and Senate members who support the privately owned and operated U.S.-flag merchant fleet and American merchant mariners. Political party affiliation, ideological alignment, and a candidate's stand on issues irrelevant to maritime labor and industry are not factors behind the smart, strategic disbursement of campaign contributions drawn from the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund.
As this summary shows, AMO's accomplishments in 2015 were especially satisfying, given what many observers refer to as Congressional "gridlock," the perceived inability to get things done, and the daunting budget climate.
Maritime Security Program
One week before Christmas, the President signed an omnibus appropriations bill to fund the government through fiscal 2016, which ends next September 30. One provision in the package provided an increase in Maritime Security Program funding from $3.1 million per ship to $3.5 million per ship until fiscal 2017 next October 1. The bill also authorized an MSP increase from $3.5 million per ship per year to $5 million per ship per year for five years, beginning in fiscal year 2017.
These authorized increases and matching appropriations would ensure continued employment for AMO engine and deck officers on at least 15 U.S.-flag container, heavy lift and roll-on/roll-off ships operating in international trade in the MSP's Maritime Security Fleet.
Export-Import Bank
On December 4, the President signed into law a five-year surface transportation measure that included a four-year charter renewal for the Export-Import Bank of the United States, or "Ex-Im Bank." This self-sustaining bank underwrites the overseas sale of goods manufactured in the U.S. In fiscal 2015, Ex-Im Bank transactions exceeded $17 billion in value, supported 109,000 private sector jobs nationwide, and returned $431.6 million to the U.S. Treasury.
Under Public Resolution 17 - adopted in Congress upon creation of the Export-Import Bank in 1934 - 100 percent of the export cargoes triggered by the bank are held for U.S.-flag merchant ships.
For our union, this cargo preference requirement provides an additional boost to the heavy lift and container fleets.
'Food for Peace'
Without question, funding of the PL-480 "Food for Peace" program - specifically, Title II of the law, which provides for the purchase of U.S.-grown farm commodities for humanitarian relief shipment overseas - is the most difficult year-to-year issue addressed by AMO in the capital.
The White House and a bipartisan bloc of House and Senate members prefer risky alternatives to the direct shipment of food aid, including "local and regional purchase" of farm products, cash transfers or vouchers in lieu of commodities, or some combination of both. Some federal agencies and elected officials also object to the application of U.S.-flag cargo preference to PL-480 food aid shipments. Despite these obstacles, the fiscal 2016 omnibus appropriations bill signed by the President included $250 million more for home-grown PL-480 Title II food aid purchases for delivery abroad, and U.S.-flag merchant ships are due at least 50 percent of the resulting volume under the current cargo preference requirement.
Equally important, PL-480 Title II funding cannot be diverted to "local and regional purchase" or to cash or cash equivalents for overseas food purchases.
These modest developments will keep AMO members working on ocean going bulk carriers and on container ships that carry bagged PL-480 grains.
AMO this year will focus not only on PL-480 funding and traditional Title II U.S. sourced commodities and the statutory use of U.S. ships for delivery to recipient countries, but also on restoring the U.S.-flag food aid share to 75 percent. This was the level in place from 1985 until July 2012, when a late night, last minute amendment to a surface transportation bill reduced the U.S.-flag cargo preference amount to 50 percent.
The Jones Act
Last year, we saw a Senate threat to the Jones Act, which holds all domestic waterborne commerce for merchant vessels owned, built, flagged and crewed in the U.S. Though limited in scope by targeting only the law's U.S. construction mandate, this bid would have inspired comparable initiatives against the law's U.S. ownership, registry and manning requirements.
We also saw a concerted effort to tie the Jones Act inappropriately to the financial crisis in Puerto Rico and a powerful push for Jones Act amendment or repeal as part of the legislation that lifted the ban on the export of U.S. crude oil.
Much to the continued frustration of the Jones Act's most ardent and determined critics, all three strategies stalled. But we expect Jones Act challenges to persist this year, especially in the context of Puerto Rico and legislation to assist the Commonwealth - a bill addressing Puerto Rico's difficulties could be crafted as early as March 2016.
Even a narrow Jones Act concession here would encourage business interests seeking Jones Act exemptions for Hawaii and Alaska. Even a thin win in the case of Puerto Rico for Jones Act critics at home would inspire foreign governments - Japan, the European Union, the Nordic countries, Panama, Mexico, Canada and others - to press their longstanding demands for access to U.S. domestic maritime markets for their merchant fleets through multilateral, bilateral and regional trade negotiations.
American Maritime Officers is in the enviable position among the officers' unions of having the most on the line in the ongoing Jones Act debate. AMO engine and deck officers are now at work on oceangoing ships operating between the State of Washington and Alaska, between the U.S. West Coast mainland and Hawaii and between Florida and Puerto Rico.
In addition, AMO holds down the licensed jobs on 25 Jones Act petroleum product tankers and seven articulated tug-barges, and many more Jones Act tankers and dry cargo ships under construction or on order in U.S. shipyards will be added to the AMO deep-sea fleet roster in the next 18 months.
On the Great Lakes, AMO licensed engineers and licensed mates, as well as stewards, fill jobs on 30 self-propelled, self-unloading Jones Act dry bulk carriers and tug-barges and the legendary Lake Michigan car ferry SS Badger.
Inland, AMO contracts cover 41 Jones Act tugs and tug-barges.
The agenda this year
Seagoing AMO members can be comfortable with our union's legislative triumphs in 2015, and they can be proud of their participation in the American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund. But they are cautioned against complacency at this important point.
The Maritime Security Program, all-American food aid sourced and shipped under PL-480, and the Export-Import Bank are subject to annual appropriations agreed to by the House and Senate and signed by the President - authorized spending does not equate automatically to money actually spent on any federal program.
The Jones Act is not a budget issue, but it represents a substantial and increasing number of jobs for AMO. It is our collective responsibility to insulate this law against all challenges arising stateside and abroad.
As always, American Maritime Officers will be steeped in the struggle on these matters and others that may develop. Meanwhile, and on behalf of the National Executive Board of AMO, I extend lasting gratitude to seagoing AMO members and applicants who join us in routine support of the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund. I encourage all others to join in at amounts they can be comfortable with - the fund is a safe, reliable and practical investment option known to yield real return.
I welcome all comments and questions about the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund - feel free to call me on the AMO headquarters office line at 954-921-2221 (Ext. 1001) or on my cell at 954-881-5651.