Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I am here today to express my strong support for S. 5168, the Energy Security and Lightering Independence Act of 2022 by Senators Padilla and Cornyn. Mr. Speaker, I thank my Senate counterparts for their work on this important bipartisan legislation, as well as Chairman Nadler and his staff for their efforts in getting this bill to the floor today. I am proud to champion and sponsor this bill in the House, and I encourage all my colleagues to support the swift passage of this bipartisan bill. Lightering is the ship-to-ship transfer of crude oil and liquid natural gas from a smaller vessel onto a larger vessel, or vice versa, for import and export. These ships are just plain too big to come in, so smaller ship comes in. Approximately, 74 percent of U.S. exports and 44 percent of U.S. imports are conducted by lightering. Lightering vessels are foreign- flagged and therefore staffed with foreign crew. These workers are highly trained, skilled, long-term employees whose sole function is to work on the lightering and get the transfer done. They are not authorized to do any other work offshore or on dock. Currently, lightering crews transit through a U.S. port under a C-1/D visa, which allows workers a 29-day work period--only 29 days. However, under the current structure, lightering crewmembers do not fit well into this visa category because they rarely, if ever, transit for less than 29 days.…”