[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 78 (Thursday, May 11, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1010-E1011]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


           COAST GUARD AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1996

                                 ______


                               speech of

                          HON. C.W. BILL YOUNG

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 9, 1995

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1361) to 
     authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1996 for the Coast 
     Guard, and for other purposes:

  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 
1361, the Coast Guard Authorization Act.
  The men and women of the Coast Guard are life savers, they protect 
our national security, they fight crime, and they protect our 
environment.
  The people of Florida have a special appreciation for the work of the 
Coast Guard. As the chairman of the Florida congressional delegation, I 
in particular pay tribute to the 7th District which serves Florida, the 
busiest Coast Guard district in our Nation.
  It is a privilege for me to represent Pinellas County, FL, which is 
home to three Coast Guard stations including Group St. Petersburg, 
which is responsible for protecting Florida's west coast down through 
the Carribbean, the Clearwater Air Station, the largest Coast Guard Air 
Station in the United States, and the Sand Key Station, which responds 
regularly to emergencies at sea and in our inland waters.
  Because the Coast Guard has consistently responded to untraditional 
challenges to our Nation with determination, creativity, and 
effectiveness, the Congress has seen fit year after year to add to its 
long list of multifaceted responsibilities. In the early 1980's, when 
the flow of illegal narcotics through the Carribbean threatened the 
nationality security of the United States, the U.S. Coast Guard was 
charged with slamming the door on this drug trade. The vigilance with 
which the Coast Guard undertook this mission forced drug smugglers to 
abandon Florida as a primary point of entry into the United States. 
Those who persist in trying to bring drugs into our Nation through 
Florida have been met with the firm response, such as last year when 
the St. Petersburg based Coast Guard Cutter Point Countess intercepted 
the freighter Inge Frank near the Sunshine Skyway bridge at the 
entrance to Tampa Bay, escorted it to its mooring, and joined the DEA 
and Customs Service in a raid that seized more than 6,000 pounds of 
cocaine, preventing $272 million in illegal drugs from reaching our 
streets.
  Most recently, when our Nation was faced with an exodus of tens of 
thousands of Cuban and Haitian refugees, the Coast Guard responded. The 
7th District rescued more than 23,000 Haitians at sea in unsafe vessels 
last Spring, and expanded its operations last Summer, pulling more than 
35,000 Cubans from the waters of the Florida Straits. Aircraft from the 
Clearwater Air Station flew 3,200 flying hours in support of these 
missions, and delivered over 600 tons of cargo to the U.S. forces 
implementing our immigration policies on shore.
  It is the Coast Guard which is responsible for enforcing all
   United States laws at sea, whether they be immigration, narcotics, 
environmental, fishery, or safety-related.

  It is the Coast Guard which is responsible for its well known search 
and rescue missions at sea. This mission not only saves lives just 
about every day of the year, but also saves significant amount of 
public and private property. Recently the Florida pilot of a small 
plane learned this lesson the hard way, when, far from land, he radioed 
a mayday, saying he had only 15 minutes of fuel left. His plane hit the 
water 70 miles west of Tampa Bay, and sank within 60 seconds. A nearby 
Coast Guard Falcon Fanjet used direction-finding equipment to locate 
the plane, witnessed it hit the water, and dropped a life-raft and 
emergency locating transmitter which enabled the pilot to be rescued 
later. Similar air rescues have saved 188 lives off the coasts of 
Florida alone since last April, and will continue to provide Americans 
with a level of safety at sea.
  It is also the Coast Guard which is responsible for the less 
glamorous, but vitally important responsibility of maintaining vital 
aids to navigation that keep ships and boats out of jeopardy. Though 
some take channel markers, ocean buoys, loran stations, and other 
necessary navigational aids for granted, they are the critical 
signposts that allow for the safe passage of boaters on our waterways.
  The Coast Guard receives invaluable help in fulfilling many of these 
diverse responsibilities from the volunteers of the Coast Guard 
Auxiliary. The 572 active members of Auxiliary Division 8, who provide 
support to Group St. Petersburg, make up the largest auxiliary unit in 
the Nation. Auxiliary members are very active in educating the public 
about boating safety issues, providing free boating safety classes and 
dockside courtesy marine examinations. Last year alone, in addition to 
training 1,330 students and conducting 8,104 courtesy marine 
examinations, Division 8 also conducted 1,364 support missions, logged 
over 14,607 underway hours, saved five lives, assisted 393 boaters, and 
saved more than $2.6 million in property.
  Mr. Speaker, perhaps the least known and understood of the Coast 
Guard's mission is one for which I have funding and oversight 
responsibility: defense readiness. When activated by the President, the 
Coast Guard assists the U.S. Navy in time of conflict, guarding the 
foreign and domestic ports we use to [[Page E1011]] deliver troops and 
vital supplies in support of operations such as Desert Shield/Desert 
Storm, Grenada, and most recently in Haiti. In recognition of these 
readiness and port security missions, the Appropriations Subcommittee 
on National Security, which I chair, has consistently provided funding 
support for the Coast Guard. In addition, I have worked to ensure that 
we better link our military intelligence assets with the Coast Guard to 
provide greater assistance in its drug-interdiction and security-
related efforts. Such intelligence and detection capabilities 
dramatically improve the Coast Guard's ability to do its job, and I 
look forward to promoting more effective cooperation between the 
services in the future.
  While the duties and expectations of the Coast Guard continue to 
grow, the funding necessary to fully meet them has not. Over the years, 
the Coast Guard has worked to find cost-effective ways to meet the 
demands placed upon it within an extremely tight budget, and I commend 
them. It is difficult to find another part of Government that does so 
much, so well, with so little. The last 2 years serve as the greatest 
example of this conflict between goals and resources. This 
administration has recommended sharp reductions in funding for drug 
interdiction, and as a result reports now indicate Caribbean 
trafficking may again be rising.
  Changing administration policies with regard to Haiti and Cuba have 
encouraged greater and greater numbers of refugees to take to the 
water, forcing the Coast Guard to shift assets from other important 
areas to tackle this overwhelming burden. In each of these instances, 
the Coast Guard has become our Nation's last line of defense, and the 
line is being stretched thinner and thinner.
  If past performance is any guide, the men and women of the Coast 
Guard will continue to meet the new threats to America's national and 
economic security with creativity, perseverance, and professionalism. 
Mr. Speaker, I salute them and their important mission and rise in 
support of this legislation to give them the tools to continue to 
undertake their important work which saves lives and protects our 
coastline.


                          ____________________