WASHINGTON – The Congressional Task Force on Economic Growth in Puerto Rico should avoid any changes to the Jones Act while considering various courses of action to help boost Puerto Rico's struggling economy, four congressmen said in a letter to the task force's House members.
The members who sent the letter, Reps. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., J. Randy Forbes, R-Va., John Garamendi, D-Calif, and Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., sit on congressional subcommittees that deal with coast guard and maritime transportation as well as sea power and projection forces.
The Jones Act requires that U.S. ships with U.S. crews move goods between Puerto Rico and the mainland U.S. Opponents of the law have said the act drives up the cost of shipping goods to Puerto Rico, a factor that hurts the commonwealth's economy.
"We have spent years studying and understanding the implications of the Jones Act both from commercial and military perspectives. Our subcommittees have heard from numerous executive branch officials … and industry representatives about the important benefits of the Jones Act," the congressmen said in their letter. "We do not believe the task force needs to address this issue."
They also asked the task force to reach out to them if issues related to the Jones Act come up during the task force's discussions.
Courtney, Forbes, Garamendi, and Hunter pointed to a 2013 Government Accountability Office report on the Jones Act to support their stance. The GAO report found that the impacts of a change to the Jones Act on Puerto Rico were "highly uncertain" and that the domestic maritime industry provides "reliable, on-time service" and "just in time" delivery to the island. The congressmen noted that many Puerto Rican importers rely on that timely service.
They also disputed the argument that Jones Act shipping rates are high, saying that actually the shipping rates from the U.S. mainland to Puerto Rico on Jones Act ships are the lowest in the Caribbean. Additionally, the act is essential to U.S. military strategy that relies on use of commercial U.S.-flag ships and crews and the availability of a shipyard industrial base to support national defense needs, they said citing the GAO report.
The act also creates American jobs, many of which are directly related to nearly $1 billion in Jones Act-related private sector investments that are currently underway, according to the congressmen.
"The last thing Puerto Rico needs today is the outsourcing of American shipping jobs," they said.
Representatives from Puerto Rico's healthcare community have also sent a letter to the task force, urging it to analyze the commonwealth's healthcare sector and suggest potential improvements.
The healthcare letter detailed the negative effects that the migration of both physicians and citizens from the territory to the mainland has caused. Access to quality care as well as citizens' abilities to afford it has diminished because of the migration, it said. It also outlined systematic challenges like lower provider payments and reduced benefits for Medicare beneficiaries in Puerto Rico compared to citizens living on the mainland and the underfunding of Medicaid that has in the past caused Puerto Rico's government to issue bonds to raise funds to meet its Medicaid program obligations.
Those who signed the letter offered a number of proposals to combat the problems, including: providing parity in Medicaid; preventing the federal health insurance tax from applying to Puerto Rico; allowing for flexibility in applying federal programs to fit Puerto Rico's specific circumstances; and ending the territory exclusion in the Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy program.
The congressional task force is chaired by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Sens. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., as well as Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico's sole and nonvoting representative in Congress, and Reps. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., Sean Duffy, R-Wis., and Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y. are also on the task force.
Any stakeholders in Puerto Rico's recovery have until Sept. 2 to respond with comments or suggestions for the task force. The eight-member group was established as part of the PROMESA legislation that President Obama signed into law in late June. It is a separate group from the seven-member oversight board the legislation will put in place.
The members must write a report by Dec. 31 of this year that identifies any current impediments federal law and programs put on economic growth or healthcare coverage for the territory as well as recommendations to fix them. The task force will explore, among other things, possible improvements that could bolster job creation, reduce child poverty, and attract investment.
The members are also required under PROMESA to provide a status update on the information that they have collected by mid-September.
