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Oil refiners, and many manufacturers and state governments
oppose the Jones Act, saying the requirement increases costs by
blocking shipping by cheaper foreign-built and foreign-flagged
vessels.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a rare waiver of the
act in 2012 when superstorm Sandy led to fuel shortages at gas
stations on the East Coast, allowing foreign vessels to bring
fuel from Gulf Coast refiners. But the act has been blamed for
causing bottlenecks, including a shortage of rock salt for New
Jersey roads during a recent severe winter storm.
McCain, an Arizona Republican and the incoming chairman of the
Senate’s Armed Services Committee, estimates that consumers
could save about $1 billion annually if the Jones Act was
lifted. He introduced a bill in 2010 to repeal it but estimated
soon after that he probably only had about 20 votes in the
100-member chamber.
He said despite tough opposition it is a fight that will win one
day. "It's one of these things you just propose amendments to
bills and encourage hearings and sooner or later the dam
breaks," McCain said after a speech at The Heritage Foundation,
a conservative think tank.
"But I have to tell you ... the power of this maritime lobby is
as powerful as anybody or any organization I have run up against
in my political career. All I can do is appeal to the patron
saint of lost causes and keep pressing and pressing and sooner
or later you have to succeed," he said.
Supporters of the Jones Act say it promotes jobs in domestic
shipbuilding and that it has wide support in Congress because
workers in all 50 U.S. states make components for those vessels.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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