September 27, 2017 โ NEW BEDFORD, Mass. โ Mayor Jon Mitchell traveled to the nationโs capital Tuesday to speak on potential improvements to the Magnuson-Steven Act, which governs marine fishery management in the United States.
He spoke to the Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans regarding one key theme: flexibility.
โWhat New Bedford has to say about commercial fishing carries weight in the halls of Congress,โ Mitchell said. โWe are the biggest commercial fishing port in the country. We should have a seat at the table when Congress goes about reforming our nationโs fisheries laws.โ
Mitchell was invited to testify by Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop who visited New Bedford last year. Though invited by the Republicans to speak in front of Congress, the Democratic mayor pitched bi-partisan ideas in the reauthorization of the act.
โWhatโs really interesting is there isnโt a great deal of difference between the Democratic and Republican reauthorization bills,โ Mitchell said. โI testified as much.โ
While in Washington, D.C., he also met with Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, to discuss tax reform in cities as well as infrastructure. Away from fishing, he also met with Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who co-sponsored the DREAM Act aimed at helping resurrect DACA.