Severe Consequences Loom as Stealth Strategy Slashes U.S.-flagged PL-480 Share

A last-minute, in-the-dark provision added to a highway funding measure late last week slashed the statutory U.S.-flagged share percent.

The stealth attack on the U.S. cargo preference requirement tied to the PL-480 "Food for Peace" program was written into a House-Senate conference report authorizing surface transportation projects for the next two years. The provision was inserted hours before the conference report was approved in the House of Representatives and in the Senate.

"Because a House-Senate conference report cannot be amended, there was no opportunity for open debate on this offensive provision," American Maritime Officers National President Tom Bethel noted. "The end result was that a proportionately small number of Senators and members of the House - Democrats and Republicans representing both chambers on the highway bill conference committee - was able to undermine the privately owned and operated U.S. merchant fleet to a dramatic, dangerous extent.

"This was not accomplished through hostile legislation filed in the House or in the Senate," Bethel continued. "There were no hearings before the House or Senate committees with jurisdiction, and there were no votes on this specific provision on the House floor or in the Senate before the language found its way into the highway bill conference report."

The provision at issue repealed a 1985 amendment to the Cargo Preference Act of 1954. The amendment increased the U.S.-flagged share of PL-480 exports from 50 percent to 75 percent. In exchange, U.S. maritime interests relinquished all cargo preference right to other farm commodity exports financed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"The 1985 amendment was hailed as a compromise that ended chronic disputes over the application of cargo preference to USDA exports," Bethel explained. "The compromise created additional business for U.S. shipping companies and new jobs for American merchant mariners - all while saving USDA a lot of money every year.

"Last week's midnight maneuver will cause the loss of thousands of U.S. jobs at sea and ashore and the waste of millions of dollars in private investment in U.S.-flagged merchant ships and supporting landside infrastructure," Bethel added.

He warned of another grave consequence - diminished U.S.-flagged sealift capability in national security emergencies.

"Cargo preference helps sustain the privately owned and operated American merchant fleet and the civilian American merchant mariner workforce U.S. defense planners rely on so heavily in wartime," Bethel said. "Transportation Command in the Department of Defense is on record in strong support of PL-480 cargo preference for this very reason."

Bethel concluded: "Our union will work independently and with other U.S. maritime interests in Washington to restore the U.S.-flag share of PL-480 cargo to the 75-percent level negotiated by Congressional leaders of both parties 27 years ago. The compromise has worked well for agricultural and maritime interests in the private sector, for USDA and for the Defense Department, which has since called upon U.S. merchant ships and American merchant mariners for sealift service in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991, in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan since 2001 and in Operation Iraqi Freedom since 2003."