JB2C

I guess by now all captains have heard about the requirement for them to get a TWIC card in order to keep and renew their captain's license. It's been discussed at length on other boards. But I wonder if ANYONE has bothered to call their US Senator and ask them to support S 3377?? This bill will do away with the TWIC requirement for most of us 'regular' captains. From all the other boards I've read, it seems like everyone is more worried about how to go about getting this card, or how long it will take to get it, than they are about trying to get rid of the requirement.

Does it make more sense to spend five minutes calling your US Senator, or spending an hour (or two or three) getting a card that most captains will never need? And handing TSA and Lockheed Martin $132 of your money every time you need to renew??If you are a USCG captain and do not need access to secure areas of a port (that doesn't include just riding through the port area on your boat), please call your US Senator and ask for their support of S3377. The bill is currently in a sub-committee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Here are the important guys that especially need to be pressed on passing S 3377:

Cantwell Washington

Snowe Maine

Boxer California

Carper Delaware

Demint South Carolina

Inouye Hawaii

Kerry Mass.

Klobuchar MN

Lautenburg NJ

Nelson Fla

Smith Oregon

Stevens Arkansas

Sununa NH

Vitter LA

Wicker Miss.

Please call your US Senator regardless. But if any of these are your Senator, they are the ones that especially need to hear from captains. Please call them, then post their response here on the board. Calls from their own state mean alot more to them than my calling them from out-of-state.

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JB

rodbender bob

I was told by Ohio Sen. Brown's rep they are very confident charters will be excluded from TWIC requirement.

JB2C

Bob, thanks very much for the reply. I wonder if the rep knew what he was talking about? Did you get the feeling he did? So many of these aides just tell you what they think you want to hear to get you off the phone. I had one just the other day that did exactly that. When I pushed, he basically admitted he knew nothing about the bill and obviously really didn't have a clue.

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JB

rodbender bob

Yes, I felt he knew what he was talking about. We discussed the issue for several minutes and he was very knowledgable and it was a good discussion. He called me because I had writen the Senator about my concerns about TWIC and they agreed with my concerns and said it needed to be changed. He was pretty confident charters would be exempt.

Little Jack

Got the TWIC, can't wait to go through the MMC process and spend another $150ish in fees.