Defense bill doubles down on the mistakes of the original Jones Act

 Washington Examiner:

A measure included in the $858 billion annual defense spending bill cleared by the Senate on Thursday night could make it harder to ship fuel during national emergencies due to changes made to a century-old law known as the Jones Act.

The Jones Act is a 1920s-era law requiring that any cargo shipped between domestic ports be transported on a U.S.-built, U.S.-registered ship flying the U.S. flag and manned by a majority-U.S. crew.

The proposed changes prohibit any vessel already on the water from obtaining waivers from the Jones Act. They also establish a 48-hour waiting period for ships to receive waivers and require them to get a determination that the waiver is needed for purposes of national security from federal agencies and the president.

If approved by the House, the changes could add up to a month for oil and liquefied natural gas to be shipped to the United States, even in the case of a national emergency, said Sean Cota, the president and CEO of the New England Fuel Institute, or NEFI.

The timeline threatens to exacerbate a looming fuel supply crisis in the Northeast this winter.

"This change has eliminated the ability for the administration in any administration to react in an emergency," Cota said. "This is the equivalent to requiring that a firetruck that's already on the road [and] driving by a house that's on fire go back to the firehouse, unload, request permission to go and put out the fire, and wait two days, minimum, before it can go back to put out the fire."
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The original Jones Act was a mistake and this only makes it more difficult to ship fuel to the Northeast US.  Biden so so much in the pocket of the unions that he is unlikely to veto a bill that could harm his home state.