Political fund a most effective AMO job guardian
As the 118th Congress begins its work, we in American Maritime Officers can count the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund as our union's most effective, practical defender of job security for all deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters vessel officers in the AMO ranks and, by extension, members' families - dependents who gain as well from the most comprehensive benefit funds in the maritime industry.
This fund complements the excellent issue work of our legislative staff in Washington. It helps sustain a broad, bipartisan support base of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the U.S. Senate - a corps of men and women reflecting all ideological beliefs but united in support of the privately owned and operated U.S. merchant fleet as a proven national asset, with AMO front and center.
But credit for the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund as the largest, most successful account of its kind in the American maritime industry goes gladly to the AMO members in all foreign and domestic trades who understand the need for and contribute to this endless but rewarding effort.
Our legislative achievements for this fiscal year 2023 include: full funding of the Maritime Security Program at $5 million per ship; full funding of the forthcoming Tanker Security Program at $6 million per ship, a fleet that is expected to expand from 10 ships to 20 in fiscal 2024 next October 1; the new Cable Security Fleet fully funded at $5 million each for two ships and which is now exclusive to AMO; and healthy funding of PL-480 food aid exports, which are subject to U.S.-flag cargo preference laws.
Since the enactment of both the Cargo Preference Act of 1954 and PL-480 in the same year, government interests like the U.S. Agency for International Development and others have grown adept at ducking the law's requirement that 50 percent of all non-defense government cargoes be shipped under the American flag - military cargoes are subject to 100 percent U.S.-flag cargo preference under a 1904 law.
But California Democrat Rep. John Garamendi this year will push a bill to tighten the law against apparently easy exploitation of legal loopholes that weaken cargo preference mandates, and he is drawing significant bipartisan support.
The Congressman's Rebuilding of the U.S.-Flag International Fleet Act "offers Congress the chance to enact the first comprehensive reform of cargo preference laws in decades," the Congressman said in his introductory comments. "Our legislation incorporates recommendations for the Maritime Administration from the Government Accountability Office's report published on September 14, 2022." This GAO report was titled Actions Needed to Enhance Cargo Preference Oversight.
The venerable Jones Act, too, is much in focus on Capitol Hill since this law was waived twice in 2022 to allow foreign-flagged tankers to haul diesel oil and liquefied natural gas to Puerto Rico as relief cargoes in the wake of a powerful hurricane last Autumn.
These Jones Act waivers "were unlawful, unnecessary and in direct contradiction to the government's longstanding expressed interest in protecting American industry," Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker wrote in a November 1 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. "The U.S. merchant marine is vital to our economic security and defense readiness. The issuance of these waivers sets a dangerous precedent and sharply erodes the strength of our domestic maritime industry."
These comments confirm the mission-first focus of the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund - a liberal Democrat from California and a conservative Republican from Mississippi with a shared, firm and principled commitment to the U.S. maritime industry on all fronts.
The fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act also includes budgets for the Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard, reaffirms MARAD's role as the sole authority to determine when Jones Act vessels are not available to provide specific services, bars blanket waivers of the domestic shipping law and prohibits retroactive Jones Act vessel availability market surveys.
The NDAA also requires MARAD to secure a final rule on the application and enforcement of cargo preference laws no later than September 23, 2023, establish a definitive U.S. maritime policy by December 27, 2023 and directs the GAO to review federal efforts to boost the U.S. maritime industry by June 27, 2024.
Under the NDAA, the Department of Defense, the Navy and the Coast Guard are to collaborate with "an appropriate vessel construction manager" on a plan to build 10 strategic sealift ships to be managed and operated by U.S. shipping interests.
These encouraging developments confirm the value of the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund, and I ask that all AMO members do what they can to help rebuild the fund balance after a long but productive cycle that ended with the Congressional mid-term elections in November. Many AMO supporters on the Hill are in or headed for key committee chairs and leadership positions already gearing up for the next election.
The AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund is indeed voluntary. The money is used exclusively to support the campaigns of lawmakers who support AMO and the maritime industry. Our fund covers no business, meal or travel expenses and no parties. A full report is on record each year with the Federal Elections Commission.
Please contribute to the AMO VPAF at levels you can be comfortable with. You can pay by personal check payable to the fund at AMO headquarters, online through the AMO website at amo-union.org, by credit card or by authorized deduction from benefits earned through the AMO Vacation Plan.
Thank you.
Paul Doell
National President