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Trump Administration Waives Jones Act to Get Aid Shipments to Puerto Rico

posted by martyb on Saturday September 30 2017, @01:13AM   Printer-friendly
from the katrina-redux? dept.

takyon writes:

The U.S. will temporarily waive the requirements of the Jones Act for Puerto Rico. The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, also known as the Jones Act, requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be carried using American vessels crewed by Americans:

The Trump administration said on Thursday that it would temporarily waive a century-old shipping law for Puerto Rico that officials there said was hindering disaster relief efforts after Hurricane Maria.

The waiver of the law, known as the Jones Act, comes as federal and local officials report more supplies trickling onto the increasingly desperate island. But the Trump administration remains under pressure to step up the recovery effort.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, announced the decision on Twitter on Thursday morning, saying that President Trump had authorized it after a request from Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló of Puerto Rico.

But the real problem for hurricane relief in Puerto Rico? A lack of truck drivers:

It's one thing to get supplies to Puerto Rico. But officials at the Department of Homeland Security, which administers FEMA, say moving goods around the island is the bigger challenge. Diesel is short. Drivers are scarce. And authorities say some roads are still impassable, although local officials dispute that explanation.

These containers were brought to the island by Crowley, a maritime shipping company. The company started unloading shipments on Saturday. By Friday, it will have received four ships, with a total of about 4,000 loaded crates. Crowley says it has more than 3,000 containers there now. That's just one shipping company, at one port. Several other ports are accepting shipments and stranded crates total an estimated 10,000. "This is food, this is water, this is medicine," says Vice President Jose Ayala, who notes a barge a day has arrived since the port opened on Saturday. "It has reached Puerto Rico. The problem is we can't get it on the shelves."

"Plenty of vessels can get cargo to the island," agrees Mark Miller, Crowley's vice president of communications. "But the real difficulty is getting the goods to the people via trucks."

FEMA: Puerto Rico situation has 'improved significantly'

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Saturday September 30 2017, @08:44AM (7 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday September 30 2017, @08:44AM (#575229) Journal

    . Ultimately, the government of Puerto Rico will have to work with us to determine how this massive rebuilding effort, it will end up being the biggest ever, will be funded and organized, and what we will do with the tremendous amount of existing debt already on the island.

    Impersonation failure, adjustment needed [theatlantic.com].
    Suggest maintaining the impostor and adjust the impostured.

    Part of this seems to be Trump’s struggle to project empathy, which he displayed in the early days after Hurricane Harvey, where he excelled at the inspirational, rah-rah, we will rebuild aspects of presidential response, but found it very hard to show he felt the pain of Gulf Coast residents. (By contrast, he has expressed caution about what to do in Puerto Rico, tweeting, “The fact is that Puerto Rico has been destroyed by two hurricanes. Big decisions will have to be made as to the cost of its rebuilding!”) Another part is Trump’s tendency toward puffery: In all situations, for his entire career, his impulse has been to magnify and celebrate his own prowess and success, and so he’s doing that here too. But that fake-it-till-you-make-it approach understandably rankles people like Yulín.

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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
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  • (Score: 2) by deadstick on Saturday September 30 2017, @01:22PM (6 children)

    by deadstick (5110) on Saturday September 30 2017, @01:22PM (#575276)

    Big decisions will have to be made

    As someone commented on Reddit, that's what you say when you're moving to an apartment that doesn't allow pets, and your daughter has a puppy.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 30 2017, @03:30PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 30 2017, @03:30PM (#575295)

      If you treat reddit as a reliable source, you have bigger problems than whoever is US president...

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 30 2017, @04:31PM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 30 2017, @04:31PM (#575318)

        That type of info doesn't need a source, moron.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 30 2017, @04:50PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 30 2017, @04:50PM (#575322)

          Then why did they give one?

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 30 2017, @06:41PM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 30 2017, @06:41PM (#575335)

            Are you autistic or stupid?

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 30 2017, @07:49PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 30 2017, @07:49PM (#575359)

              As someone commented on reddit, no.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 02 2017, @09:59AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 02 2017, @09:59AM (#575832)

      Used to be. Trouble is, this is 2017, and your daughter is 29.