KLOBUCHAR: “We want to not just be bringing goods in from other countries, we want to make things in America.”

WASHINGTON - In interviews with local news stations across Minnesota, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) highlighted how her bipartisan Ocean Shipping Reform Act will boost economic competitiveness and increase supply chain efficiency. The legislation, which Klobuchar co-leads with Senator John Thune (R-SD), will make it harder for foreign-owned ocean carriers to unreasonably refuse goods ready to export at U.S. ports.

Here’s what the headlines are saying:

“We want to not just be bringing goods in from other countries, we want to make things in America,” Klobuchar told KTTC in Rochester. “It’s going to just make it quicker to ship our products to market.”

Klobuchar specifically noted how this bill will help agricultural producers who have been hurt by supply chain disruptions."There are many companies in this region reliant on the global supply chain and utilizing containers,” Klobuchar told KEYC in Mankato. “This bill is really important for the Mankato area because of the ag producers – soybean, corn, you name it.”

She emphasized this point to KAAL in Rochester: “This bill will help the ag communities because they want to ship their goods to other countries…We want to make things in America, use them in America, but also ship things to other places.”

Additional interview highlights:

  • "If we can speed this up so our goods go to market, that's good for American workers who are making the stuff, and also goods come to us faster…It also should bring costs down. They've been charging too much,” Klobuchar told KIMT in Rochester.
  • “So much of what has slowed our country down, as we see with supply chain issues and the like, is if we have not modernized our shipping and modes of transportation so that we can make things in America, like we do in Duluth…and ship to the rest of the world,” she told WDIO in Duluth.
  • "We've been too dependent on foreign suppliers, and when they slow down, we slow down. So we wanted to create incentives for companies…to make it quicker to ship our products to markets,” Klobuchar told KTTC in Rochester. 

The Ocean Shipping Reform Act would address supply chain challenges by making it harder for ocean carriers to arbitrarily turn away goods at ports that are ready to be shipped abroad. It would also give the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), the federal agency responsible for the regulation of oceanborne transportation, greater authority to regulate harmful practices by carriers. 

The legislation is cosponsored by Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), John Hoeven (R-ND), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jerry Moran (R-KS) , Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Todd Young (R-IN), Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), and supported by a wide range of groups including the American Trucking Association, Consumer Technology Association, Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, and the Minnesota Corn Growers Association.

###