Rep. Don Young has pitched waiving the Jones Act to help the US recover from the covid-19 pandemic. He believes that the best way to help the hardest hit industries in Alaska, the aviation and tourism sectors, is to get the Lower 48 economy producing again. To that end, he is working on finding ways to make sure cruise ships can get to Alaska if the passenger demand materializes next year but Canadian ports and border crossings remain closed. As it stands, large cruise ships, nearly all of which are foreign-flagged, departing from the West Coast must stop in Vancouver before sailing to Alaska.
