'They Tell Me Not To Say That': Maritime Commissioner Lets Her Tongue Slip About Trump's Firings

5 months ago

During a House Transportation Committee hearing in July, Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) asked Rebecca Dye, Commissioner, Federal Maritime Commission, about firings at her agency.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Carver Hall, recognized, five minutes.

00:03Thank you, Mr. Chair.

00:04Commissioner Dye, I'm a strong supporter of the FMC

00:08and want to focus all my questions today

00:11on the recently announced Flag of Convenience investigation.

00:15Why did the FMC decide to initiate the investigation?

00:18In other words, what is the potential risk to Americans?

00:23And this is which one?

00:25The investigation that you recently opened,

00:28the Flag of Convenience.

00:30Oh, I think that, without talking about the reasoning,

00:40but I think that one, as well as the others,

00:46is the facts that we develop

00:51will be worth any argument on the issue.

00:57What's the potential risk to Americans?

01:00For?

01:02The reason why you opened up this investigation.

01:04Oh, for the risk is to any U.S. flag vessel.

01:11For the detriment.

01:17And what practices have foreign countries participated in

01:20that have resulted in the degradation of U.S. flag shipping?

01:25What practices have foreign countries participated in that have resulted in the degradation of U.S. flag shipping?

01:45The investigation in Spain, of course, has been, there have been vessels, U.S. flag vessels, that have been turned away.

01:58And the other fact findings are, obviously, we had a good result with the Great Lakes carriers.

02:09And they were most pleased that we got involved.

02:17Our general counsel was able to work with the State Department, and that was an excellent result for them.

02:25And then the others are facts that may be useful in the future to U.S. flag vessels,

02:34especially concerning our registry and how we may decide to change a U.S. flag registry in the future.

02:48As a strong supporter of the U.S. merchant marine and the U.S. flag vessels,

02:55what actions are available to the FMC should you find that the use of flags of convenience

03:01have resulted in unfair shipping practices?

03:06Yes.

03:06Well, the, the, um, at some point, even the President could become involved in taking action against foreign country.

03:17The, the, these, the remedies are slightly different for each of these, if a violation is found.

03:25And, of course, the fact findings that we're conducting now don't have proceeding authority.

03:33But at this stage, we're, we're, we're, we're finding facts in preparation for another proceeding if we develop the evidence.

03:49But what are some of the actions that you can take?

03:52The, um, the, the, their ships, um, could be prohibited from our ports.

04:08Um, uh, there, there, uh, there are some monetary penalties, um, but they're, and they're slightly different for, for each one.

04:18Commissioner Dyer, uh, I, I must say I'm disappointed with the administration's budget request.

04:25If Congress were to increase the FMC's budget, and you were able to rehire the 26 people that have been lost,

04:32what would that mean for the effectiveness of the agency?

04:35What kind of work would they be doing?

04:37We have reorganized in a way that, um, we are, I, I shouldn't say we've organized.

04:46They tell me not to say that.

04:48We have refocused in a way, um, that we are, we are in good shape today.

04:56Well, I guess that feeds into the whole argument.

04:59Uh, if this is the case, maybe we should have done this reorganization in the past.

05:04Um, we, we're, we're, well, we, the past, the past really doesn't exist.

05:12We're looking today and forward.

05:16Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

05:17I'll be back.

'They Tell Me Not To Say That': Maritime Commissioner Lets Her Tongue Slip About Trump's Firings

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