Container cranes at the Port Authority of Guam terminal in Piti on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.
HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam Delegate James Moylan has asked President Donald Trump to include Guam in his Jan. 20 executive order called “Delivering Emergency Price Relief for American Families and Defeating the Cost-of-Living Crisis.”
The order tasks the heads of all executive departments and agencies to deliver emergency price relief to Americans, consistent with applicable law, including actions to lower the cost of housing and expand housing supply, eliminate unnecessary administrative expenses and rent-seeking practices that increase health care costs, eliminate “counterproductive requirements” that raise the costs of home appliances, create work opportunities for Americans, and eliminate “coercive ‘climate’ policies that increase the costs of food and fuel.”
“I humbly ask for your assistance in including Guam in this executive order, so that all Americans — in the 50 states and U.S. territories — have a reduced cost of living,” Moylan wrote to Trump.
Moylan pointed to the Jones Act, a federal law credited with increasing the cost of goods on Guam, other U.S. territories and Hawaii by mandating that all cargo shipping between U.S. ports occur only on U.S.-flagged vessels.
“Specifically, the Biden administration refused to provide Guam with a Jones Act waiver, which actively hindered businesses and limited basic commodities on the island…. In helping us achieve this waiver and other Jones Act exceptions for Guam, your administration can provide for Americans who have been forgotten about for the past four years,” Moylan stated.
Although Moylan laid blame with former President Joe Biden, the delegate previously acknowledged that the Jones Act is well-protected federal policy, and in his congressional address last year, stated that his office would focus on finding alternative solutions.
Moylan also touched on efforts to create a cabotage exemption for foreign air carriers on Guam, telling Trump that allowing foreign carriers from certain Pacific countries to operate domestic flights will benefit Guam’s economy significantly.
Along with former Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Delegate Gregorio Sablan, Moylan introduced legislation last term to create a special exemption for foreign carriers on Guam and the CNMI. The only domestic carrier providing travel between the islands and from Guam to Hawaii is United Airlines.
And as he said about the Jones Act, Moylan also acknowledged that pursuing a cabotage exemption would face much opposition.
Moylan’s letter was critical of Biden’s administration, stating that it failed to invest in and care for Guam, a reflection of Trump’s executive order, which blamed his predecessor and “unnecessary and illegal” regulatory requirements for driving up costs for Americans.
The president has now signed a number of executive orders on a broad range of topics, such as requiring the federal government to recognize only male and female genders on passports and other documents, and declaring a national emergency at the southern U.S. border.
When asked about the Trump orders, the Office of the Governor said it was reviewing them.
