U.S. Senate candidate and former Hawaii legislator John Carroll will host a press conference to explain the debilitating effects of the 1920 Jones Act on Hawaii’s economy and Senator Schatz’s anti-Hawaii position on the issue. The press conference is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10 immediately following a Trump rally being held at the Oahu Veteran’s Center at Foster Village.
Candidate Carroll has long been Hawaii’s voice for amending the 1920 Jones Act which was intended to protect United States merchant shipping interests following World War I. Long before Hawaii became a State, the Jones Act was implemented to ensure only domestic vessels and crews be employed in all commercial shipping between U.S. ports. The impact of this law has severe implications on Hawaii by preventing Hawaii’s access to unrestricted use of foreign vessels and unrestricted commerce with foreign ports. With Hawaii so close to Pacific and Asian markets, it is outrageous that Hawaii can’t have unimpeded access to these markets and their much cheaper shipping industries for exports and imports.
Sen. Schatz has boldly stated (www.bigislandvideonews.com, July 2, 2014):
“I fully support the Jones Act. I don’t support amending it or repealing it or providing any exemptions, and here’s why…every Secretary of the Navy going back to Ronald Reagan, and every president has supported the Jones Act, and that’s because we need the industrial shipping capacity for [the] United States Navy.”
Carroll disagrees.
“Sen. Schatz fails to realize that this law was created to insure a vibrant merchant fleet and not for the U.S. Navy,” Carroll asserted. “He’s missed the mark entirely.”
“It is obvious that fuel costs are not the primary reason for our people in Hawaii paying 86% more at the grocery store for the same items,” Carroll said. He further stated, the Jones Act increases the costs of everything shipped to Hawaii as well as the export of Hawaii’s goods to the continent and foreign countries.“ In fact, he stated, we don’t even have an export business of any significance just because of the Jones Act.” Empty ships return to California and international ships from throughout the Pacific sail right on by Hawaii to ports on the west coast.
“What would an enemy want to do to the people of Hawaii during war time?” asks Ken Schoolland, professor of economics at Hawaii Pacific University and scholar at the Grassroot Institute. “They would want to cut us off from international shipping. Well, this is what the law [Jones Act] does to us all the time.”
Unintentionally or not, Sen. Schatz’s position is clearly against Hawaii’s interests. Why take this obvious anti-Hawaii position to support one industry’s dominance over the interests of the people he serves? Carroll believes “It’s solely political and has to do with ‘campaign contributions’, ‘vested interests’, ‘big business’ and duping the people of Hawaii with the guise that this is good for America.”
John Carroll has repeatedly asked for public debates on this and other major issues affecting Hawaii’s people; the Schatz campaign has ignored his requests for public debates. At his news conference, Carroll will highlight his position on the Jones Act and several other issues where Sen. Schatz is ignoring the will of the people, including the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Reserve. His press conference will immediately follow the Trump campaign rally being held at the Oahu Veteran’s Center at Foster Village on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 11:00 am
For more information, call (808) 526-9111 or e-maildayna@carroll4senate.com.