February 6, 2013 — Tierney’s bill will finally provide the level of aid the fisheries need and, at this point, deserve. And it would finally bring about a proper use of the Saltonstall-Kennedy Act tariff funds that have been misused for decades.
Congressman John Tierney deserves credit for identifying a logical funding source for steering perhaps $100 million or more toward fishermen and other businesses caught up in a recognized “economic disaster.”
At the same time, however, even Tierney would likely concede that his funding source for fisheries disaster relief shouldn’t be seen as innovative at all; it is, in fact, a case of simply putting this money, drawn from U.S. import tariff payments, to use the way it was intended by Congress and two consumate Massachusetts lawmakers nearly 60 years ago.
And in announcing a new push to free up aid for Gloucester’s, New England’s and New York state, Mississippi and Alaska fishermen — all now recognized as economic “disaster” areas by the Department of Commerce — Tierney is really righting a wrong that has been shamefully allowed to persist for decades.
Read the full story at the Gloucester Times