Preventing Port Issues
Preventing Port Issues. I'm Greg Martin with Washington Ag Today.
U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse recently unveiled details of draft legislation he plans to introduce in Congress.
NEWHOUSE: It stand for the Ensuring Continued Operations and No Other Major Incidents, Closures, or Slowdowns Act which is all a very clever way to put into a succinct form and say ECONOMICS Act. All of us in the State of Washington the effect, the impact that the ports slowdown had on our economy. We're still feeling it as a matter of fact. Segments of the agriculture community the effects of that slowdown will continue for a long time.
He says the ECONOMICS Act is an tool for Congress and the Administration, to use to help prevent port issues like this one.
NEWHOUSE: It doesn't pick sides. It doesn't say one thing about who's to blame it just takes a very subjective look at the impacts and the economic activity at our ports to form a board of inquiry that would then recommend to the Administration whether or not there should be further injunctive judicial proceedings. So other triggers are involved in this as well. We're also looking at the number of ports involved. Four is what we have right now and also the number of employees that are impacted and we're using the number 6000.
Newhouse says they are asking for input from the industry.
NEWHOUSE: Commodity groups, from management associations, from labor, from everybody that's involved in these issues.
And that's Washington Ag Today. I'm Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.
