Save Puerto Rico — repeal the Jones Act now

Last week, Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Fiona. The entire island was left without power. Unfortunately, its residents continue to suffer a week later, and this time, nature alone cannot be blamed, as an archaic federal law called the Jones Act is preventing needed supplies from reaching the island territory as quickly as they could otherwise.

“There is a ship with 300,000 barrels of diesel off the southern coast of Puerto Rico that is prepared to deliver the diesel at a time when the island needs all the diesel it can get,” CBS News correspondent David Begnaud confirmed Monday morning on social media.

The problem is that this ship is foreign-flagged and its cargo comes from Texas. Therefore, the Jones Act prohibits its delivery.

“Diesel helps gas stations, hospitals, the government of Puerto Rico,” Begnaud explained. “Because of the Jones Act, I am told that the foreign-flagged ship cannot move into Puerto Rico to deliver the diesel unless it obtains a Jones Act waiver.”

The Jones Act, a piece of special interest legislation passed in 1920 to protect U.S. shipping companies from competition, prevents foreign vessels from carrying goods between U.S. ports. The law failed, as all protectionist laws ultimately do, to protect the Merchant Marine from its demise. The law simply incentivized greater use of railroads and trucking for interstate shipping. The fleet of merchant vessels grew to more than 2,000 during World War II but has declined to fewer than 200.

Unfortunately, this law’s consequences can be felt every day by residents of island locations such as Hawaii and Puerto Rico. In normal times, the Jones Act causes consumers to pay needlessly high prices. In times of crisis, it can have tragic consequences, which is what is happening in Puerto Rico right now.

The Biden administration should have already waived the Jones Act for all vessels entering Puerto Rico days ago. But there shouldn’t be any need for a waiver because there shouldn’t be a Jones Act at all. It should have been repealed ages ago — or, better yet, it should never have passed. It is genuinely bizarre that this fossil of a law remains in effect today given that the special interest constituency it was designed to protect has become so tiny and irrelevant.

People in Puerto Rico are now needlessly suffering because of an outdated protectionist law that never served any legitimate purpose in the first place. It is enough to induce rage.

In an ideal world, this law would be history already. In this world, the news and images of Puerto Ricans suffering should result not only in a waiver but also in members of Congress unanimously repealing the Jones Act.

In the meantime, however, an act of charitable civil disobedience by the shipping industry would be appropriate. Perhaps it is fanciful to hope for such courage, but mass disobedience of the Jones Act to assist the residents of Puerto Rico would force the U.S. government either to try to defend this stupid law in court — to punish people for treating Puerto Ricans as human beings — or else to give up on rationalizing this economic abuse of American islanders in general.

It is shameful that it should take a crisis to force the repeal of this law, but this is the crisis for which to do it. The best day for Congress to repeal the Jones Act would have been yesterday — the second best day is today.

“There is a ship with 300,000 barrels of diesel off the southern coast of Puerto Rico that is prepared to deliver the diesel at a time … ” CBS News correspondent David Begnaud confirmed Monday. … The problem is that this ship is foreign-flagged and its cargo comes from Texas. Therefore, the Jones Act prohibits its delivery.