Amendment to Jones Act Abandoned

The American Maritime Partnership (AMP), the voice of the domestic maritime industry, has voiced its support after the United States Senate approved the Keystone XL Pipeline legislation without an amendment to repeal the Jones Act.

The amendment would have decimated the nation’s shipbuilding capacity which is vital to America’s national, economic and homeland security, said Tom Allegretti, Chairman of AMP. 

“The decision not to offer or vote on the amendment to repeal the Jones Act on the Keystone XL Pipeline legislation, an amendment that relied on flawed data and factual omissions, showed that it would have been overwhelmingly defeated because of the law’s rock solid support in Congress,” said Allegretti. “This was not surprising considering it was just one month ago that Congress enacted its strongest legislative endorsement of the Jones Act in memory.”

The amendment in the Keystone legislation had been proposed by Senator John McCain.

The Jones Act requires vessels in domestic waterborne trade to be owned by U.S. citizens, built in the United States and crewed by U.S. mariners. 

There are currently 117 shipyards in 26 states, which employ about 110,000 workers. The total of direct and indirect shipyard jobs, however, is closer to 402,000, and they provide about $23.9 billion in income and add $360 billion to the U.S. GDP.