This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Tuesday, March 12, 2019.

I'm Caleb Brown.

The Cato Institute has long advocated an end to the Jones Act,

a nearly century old shipping law that raises prices, reduces competition,

and strangely, seems to deliver few measurable benefits to the industries that it's supposed

to help.

There is now legislation on Capitol Hill that would end the Jones Act.

Colin Graybowow, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute comments.

The Jones Act has been around for nearly a hundred years or now more than a 100 years.

100 years. It'll celebrate its 99th birthday this June.

Senator Mike Lee of Utah has introduced legislation that would be a straight up repeal.

Has the law ever been altered in its 100 year history?

There have been some slight alterations to the law during its history.

For example, the U.S. Virgin Islands was given an exemption, I believe, back in the late 1930s,

maybe 1940s, something like that.

Guam, there was a reform passed an alteration enacted so that Guam is only is freed

nominally, at least of the U domestic build requirement but in practice it's still subject to it because any ships heading out to Guam they always stop in Hawaii first and Hawaii is subject to the domestic build requirement.

So for all intents and purposes, Guam is still on a de facto basis subject to the domestic

build requirement.

You know, American Samoa and a handful of other small islands are exempt from the Jones Act

but it's basically stood untouched for most of its 99 year existence.

So we need to clarify and remind our listeners what the Jones Act actually

...