by Guest » June 14, 2023, 10:25 pm
Guest wrote: ↑June 14, 2023, 8:51 am
I have often seen the process of redocumenting a US-built vessel that was later sold for operation under a foreign as requiring an "act of Congress" to be brought back into US documentation. Is that truly the case or is this just another way of expressing a difficult process in slang? It seems that the importance of the redocumentation of a US-built vessel is disproportionate to other issues to truly require the subject to be put through the legislative process. It would seem that there are more appropriate bureaucratic channels that could address such an issue more efficiently.
It is generally used to mean a literal act of Congress. Agencies can interpret laws, but only Congress has the power to change them (of course courts can strike down laws as well.) However the US Congress has few requirements to keep legislation "on topic", so riders are often attached to unrelated bills. So for instance, a bill legislating reimbursements be paid to airline passengers for cancelled flights, could easily have a rider attached stating that a particular vessel can be re-flagged American if it is rebuilt for x dollars or more in a US shipyard. If the main bill is passed, so is the rider. Some legislation has so many unrelated riders attached to it that they are known as "Christmas Tree bills". A little bit of everything for everyone.
It seems like an inefficient way of governing, and it probably is. But I suspect most of the effort taken to draft and negotiate riders is done by congressional staffers, and not Congress members themselves.
Riders:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider_(legislation)
Christmas Tree Bills:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_tree_bill
[quote=Guest post_id=254173 time=1686750668]
I have often seen the process of redocumenting a US-built vessel that was later sold for operation under a foreign as requiring an "act of Congress" to be brought back into US documentation. Is that truly the case or is this just another way of expressing a difficult process in slang? It seems that the importance of the redocumentation of a US-built vessel is disproportionate to other issues to truly require the subject to be put through the legislative process. It would seem that there are more appropriate bureaucratic channels that could address such an issue more efficiently.
[/quote]
It is generally used to mean a literal act of Congress. Agencies can interpret laws, but only Congress has the power to change them (of course courts can strike down laws as well.) However the US Congress has few requirements to keep legislation "on topic", so riders are often attached to unrelated bills. So for instance, a bill legislating reimbursements be paid to airline passengers for cancelled flights, could easily have a rider attached stating that a particular vessel can be re-flagged American if it is rebuilt for x dollars or more in a US shipyard. If the main bill is passed, so is the rider. Some legislation has so many unrelated riders attached to it that they are known as "Christmas Tree bills". A little bit of everything for everyone.
It seems like an inefficient way of governing, and it probably is. But I suspect most of the effort taken to draft and negotiate riders is done by congressional staffers, and not Congress members themselves.
Riders: [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider_(legislation)[/url]
Christmas Tree Bills: [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_tree_bill[/url]