Lake Carriers' Association is joining with other pro-Jones Act interests to praise a General Accounting Office (GAO) Report on the ITC's 1995 study on the Jones Act that claimed the Cabotage law "cost" the U.S. economy $2.8 billion a year. "The ITC study has been a cornerstone of efforts to repeal the Jones Act, but the GAO's findings illustrate the many flaws that make the 1995 study a useless document. Equally important, the GAO's analysis correctly points out that the ITC's failure to include the cost of compliance with U.S. laws were foreign-flag vessels allowed in our domestic trades itself undermines the entire study. Jones Act opponents had hoped that the GAO would reaffirm the ITC findings, but the exact opposite is true."
For more information on the GAO Report, read the news release issued by the Maritime Cabotage Task Force