[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 116 (Thursday, September 15, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H8031-H8034]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          COAST GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION ACT OF 2005

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Terry). Pursuant to House Resolution 440 
and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the 
Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the 
bill, H.R. 889.

                              {time}  1424


                     In the Committee of the Whole

  Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the 
Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill 
(H.R. 889) to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard for fiscal 
year 2006, to make technical corrections to various laws administered 
by the Coast Guard, and for other purposes, with Mr. Simpson in the 
chair.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as having 
been read the first time.
  Under the rule, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) and the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young).
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  H.R. 889, the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2005, 
authorizes funding levels for the Coast Guard in fiscal year 2006 and 
makes several changes to current law related to the Coast Guard and to 
the maritime transportation system.
  This bill is the result of a bipartisan effort; and I greatly 
appreciate the efforts of the bill's original co-sponsors, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo), the subcommittee chairman; 
the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the full committee ranking 
member; and the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner), the 
subcommittee ranking member.
  This bill provides the Coast Guard with the necessary resources and 
authorities to protect the safety and security of lives and property on 
U.S. waters.
  H.R. 889 authorizes a funding level of nearly $8.7 billion for the 
Coast Guard for fiscal year 2006. This authorization level includes an 
amount of $1.6 billion to accelerate the delivery of new vessels and 
aircraft as part of the deepwater program. The Coast Guard's legacy 
fleet is deteriorating at an unacceptable rate, endangering the safety 
of the Coast Guardsmen on board and the general public.
  We must provide the Coast Guard with these new assets, and I urge my 
colleagues to support full funding for this program this year and in 
future years.
  As this body's only licensed mariner and the representative of the 
State that includes more than half of this Nation's coastline, I 
recognize the importance of making certain that the Coast Guard has the 
tools necessary to carry out its many and varied missions.
  Earlier this year, the Coast Guard responded to a major oil spill in 
my

[[Page H8032]]

State and in the district of subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from 
New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo). While the Coast Guard has recently received 
a great deal of attention for its important homeland security missions, 
we must be mindful of the requirements of the Coast Guard's equally 
important traditional missions.
  Mr. Chairman, all of us recognize the exceptional work done by the 
Coast Guard, often under dangerous conditions in Alaska and all around 
this Nation.
  Mr. Chairman, as I am reminded with the Katrina hurricane, the 
outstanding agency that worked the best and did their job with honor 
and dignity was the United States Coast Guard. I am very proud to be 
affiliated with them, and I urge the strong support of this 
legislation.
  Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  As the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) indicated, this legislation 
is in the great spirit of our committee, a bipartisan product. We 
worked together long and hard to bring to the House a reauthorization 
of the Coast Guard.
  I commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Chairman LoBiondo), the 
chairman of the subcommittee, for his dedication, his commitment to the 
Coast Guard, and for not only legislative reasons but for personal 
reasons. The gentleman has a long history with the Coast Guard.
  I concur with the gentleman from Alaska (Chairman Young). Flashing 
across television screens, across the country since the onslaught of 
Hurricane Katrina has been the extraordinary accomplishment of the U.S. 
Coast Guard in responding to the needs of citizens stranded, devastated 
by the storm.
  Some 32 years ago, I took the opportunity to spend a day with the 8th 
Coast Guard district commandant and his staff and reviewed the entire 
range of operations of district 8 in their 26-State area of 
responsibility, not just New Orleans or the gulf. It is 26 States up to 
Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, the river system for which that 
district has jurisdiction.
  The men and women of the Coast Guard are extraordinarily dedicated, 
skilled, professional, committed to their work. I walked through every 
stage of their preparation for the homeland security responsibilities 
that the Coast Guard carries out, as well as the aids to navigation, 
search and rescue, drug interdiction, immigration responsibilities that 
the 8th Coast Guard district shoulders and carries out so effectively.
  On Saturday, August 28, aircraft from air stations in New Orleans, 
Houston and Mobile flew over the destroyed gulf coast and over New 
Orleans. They immediately began lifting survivors, transporting them to 
safety and calling for reinforcements. But as the devastating scope of 
the disaster became known, every Coast Guard air station around the 
U.S. began sending aircraft and extra air crews to support the rescue 
operations.
  The Coast Guard had equipment 24 hours a day on scene. Cutters and 
crews were brought in.

                              {time}  1430

  The buoy tenders were necessary. All aids to navigation were just 
blown to smithereens: either sunk, devastated, smashed, or some of them 
blown way inland. The Coast Guard had to go back and redeploy all those 
aids to navigation.
  The air station for the Coast Guard in New Orleans was flooded. Its 
roof, or a great deal of the roof at any rate, was peeled back. The 
Coast Guard Air Facility Mobile had damage to their roof, lost their 
operation space, their maintenance space, power, and telephone 
communications. Station Gulfport of the Coast Guard was destroyed. The 
Integrated Support Command in New Orleans was flooded and destroyed. 
Buoys and aids to navigation throughout the region of the gulf just 
smashed, and pushed way off station in most cases.
  The vessel traffic service radar in Burwick Bay was destroyed. The 
Coast Guard even had to evacuate their eighth district headquarters in 
New Orleans and move to Saint Louis. Nonetheless, the Coast Guard 
rescued 6,500 people. 6,500 people. Rescue swimmers, and we saw this on 
our screens, were dropped from helicopters to collect people from 
houses, to maneuver around power lines, hack through attic roofs with 
axes, and endure foul and contaminated water. One helicopter crew saved 
150 people in one shift; another 100 people in a single shift.
  The Coast Guard saw that the storm was coming. They have prepared for 
it year after year after year, for this or any kind of storm. Training 
for the Coast Guard is not just an exercise on paper nor on computers, 
as I saw as I walked through each of the stations at District 8. It is 
real life, day to day. And because of that professionalism, the 
chairman and I both argued on this floor 3 years ago that the Coast 
Guard should not be put in the Department of Homeland Security. It 
ought to be kept in its status within the Department of Transportation 
with a considerable degree of latitude to carry out their 
responsibilities. Unfortunately, our commonsense counsel was not heeded 
in the shaping of the Department of Homeland Security.
  The Coast Guard, nonetheless, overcame bureaucracy to respond to the 
needs of people in sharp contrast to the disarray of FEMA, which left 
Americans startled, stunned, disgusted and, ultimately, the President 
in a position to recall his director of FEMA and to redirect operations 
and bring a new leader in. We did not see any of that with the Coast 
Guard. In fact, the Coast Guard was asked to dispatch an admiral to 
take over and run the rescue operations in the gulf.
  We keep adding responsibilities to the Coast Guard, but we do not 
provide them with sufficient personnel, equipment, and funding; and 
that is what this legislation will do. It will authorize $8.7 billion 
for the upcoming fiscal year for the Coast Guard. Of that amount, $5.6 
billion is for operating expenses; $1.9 billion for the acquisition, 
construction and improvement program, part of which is the Integrated 
Deepwater System to replace their cutters and their aircraft, to keep 
older ships and aircraft operating; $24 million for research and 
development; $35.9 million to remove and alter bridges that are 
obstructions to safe navigation; and $12 million to clean up 
environmental and pollution problems at Coast Guard facilities.
  When I was elected to Congress and took office in 1975 and served on 
the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee and on the Subcommittee on 
Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, along with the gentleman from 
Alaska (Mr. Young), who preceded me by a term, that is where we 
developed our friendship and relationship over these many years. There 
were 35,000 officers and enlisted personnel in the Coast Guard in that 
year. Today, and in the intervening years, we have added 27 new 
functions for the Coast Guard, but there are only now 40,000 Coast 
Guard personnel. They have increased only 5,000 in the last 31 years. 
Yet we expect the Coast Guard to carry out all these 27 new functions, 
plus their historic functions, with this rather limited personnel and 
limited budget.
  We make a big step forward today by increasing the funding, providing 
substantially for the acquisition of equipment that the Coast Guard 
needs and, hopefully, to support the personnel that they require to 
carry out their functions.
  Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman from 
Minnesota for his comments.
  This budget, although it appears large, is not large enough. The 
reality is, and I was just sitting here and thinking about it, that the 
Forest Service budget is $7 billion, and they do not produce anything. 
They do not save any lives, and they spend $7 billion for what, I do 
not know. But just to give some comparisons, this really should be 
more. This is the biggest increase we have ever had, but it should be 
more for the duties we have given the Coast Guard.
  The Coast Guard has 27 new challenges and duties we require of them 
through this Congress, and only 5,000, I believe, more personnel in the 
deal; and they have never been funded correctly.
  Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my debate time to the gentleman 
from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo), and pending that I ask unanimous 
consent that

[[Page H8033]]

the gentleman be permitted to control this time.
  The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from 
Alaska?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I want to thank Chairman Young for his attention and leadership on 
this issue. I want to thank the ranking member, the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Filner). I think this is one committee and one area where we are 
probably a role model for the rest of the Congress to look at in terms 
of the way we have come together in a bipartisan way to recognize the 
needs and form a consensus and conclusion.
  Chairman Young outlined some of the basics of the bill, the $8.7 
billion that we are authorizing. He talked a little bit about Operation 
Deepwater, and I want to sort of reemphasize a little of that. We are 
asking for $1.6 billion for the Deepwater System, which will result in 
the complete recapitalization of the Coast Guard. If there were ever a 
time and a need for it, it is now.
  While we have not talked about homeland security that much in the 
wake of Katrina, the Coast Guard's primary mission has been that of 
maritime anti-terrorism and homeland security. They are not able to 
conduct that mission with assets that are failing on a more regular 
basis, and every day Coast Guardsmen must deal with the reality and the 
possibility of asset failures that put the safety of the personnel and 
the success of their missions in jeopardy.
  This is an opportunity for us, in an authorization bill, to clearly 
state how important we think it is for the Coast Guard to have the 
right assets to go along with the extraordinary training and dedication 
they are bringing to the mission. This is a very good step forward, and 
I would urge all my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Filner), the ranking member on the Subcommittee on the 
Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time and for all his expertise, his help, and his mentoring on these 
and other transportation issues for so long. I thank the gentleman from 
New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) for his leadership on the subcommittee, and 
of course, the chairman, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), on the 
full committee.
  Mr. Chairman, I agree with the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
LoBiondo) when he said this is a committee that is working well 
together. The collegiality, the input that is provided from our side is 
greatly appreciated, and the mutual respect is evident. So we thank the 
Chair of both the subcommittee and the full committee for that.
  Mr. Chairman, I have never been more proud of the men and women that 
serve in the United States Coast Guard than in recent weeks. What we 
have seen are valiant men and women stepping up to the plate and saving 
thousands of Americans from the destructive flood waters brought by 
Hurricane Katrina. The Coast Guard, whose motto is ``Semper Paratus,'' 
always ready, was prepared and ready to respond to this storm. Before 
levees ever broke, the Coast Guard was flying additional helicopters 
and extra air crews to the gulf region. Once the storm hit, their air 
crews and boat crews were operating 24 hours a day to save their fellow 
citizens.
  The best decision that the President has made in the past 2 weeks was 
to place Vice Admiral Thad Allen in charge of the emergency response to 
the Katrina disaster. To the Coast Guard, being prepared to respond to 
a disaster is not just a paper exercise to sit on a shelf when the big 
one hits. Being prepared is something they do every day. They develop 
relationships with State and local government officials. They know who 
in the private sector can help provide resources quickly to respond, 
and they make decisions quickly so they can implement an effective 
response.
  What we know to date of Katrina is that the Coast Guard has saved 
over 12,000 lives with their air resources and over 11,000 lives were 
saved by boats and other surface resources. They evacuated over 9,000 
people to hospitals. When the storm passed, they remained on the scene 
helping to clean up the mess and protect the environment. In New 
Orleans, they are coordinating the cleanup of 15 significant oil 
spills. The Coast Guard is helping to coordinate the removal of sunken 
ships and barges.
  Mr. Chairman, the Coast Guard has responded with all of the resources 
at their command to this disaster. It is time for the House of 
Representatives to respond to the Coast Guard by ensuring they have the 
resources they need to carry out their missions in the coming year and 
to continue to help American citizens, whether it is a disaster on the 
scale of Katrina or in a boating accident, to which they respond 
thousands of times.
  H.R. 889 authorizes a total of $8.7 billion for the Coast Guard in 
the coming fiscal year. It includes $5.6 billion for operating expenses 
and almost $2 billion for acquisition, construction, and improvement. 
Funding for the Integrated Deepwater System is increased above the 
President's request to make sure this vital system stays on schedule.
  I want to thank Chairman Young and Subcommittee Chairman LoBiondo for 
including my request for $39 million to establish an additional 
helicopter interdiction tactical squadron, or HITRON, on the west 
coast. Currently, the Coast Guard operates only one HITRON squadron out 
of Jacksonville, Florida. We need another on the west coast to protect 
the eastern Pacific Ocean and interdict vessels attempting to smuggle 
drugs into the United States. The east coast squadron has interdicted 
over $6 billion in drugs to date, and I think we can do even more on 
the west coast.
  So I thank the Chair for working on this bill so cooperatively. I 
thank the Coast Guard for not only responding to Katrina but for the 
work they do every day in all of our districts, whether it is search 
and rescue, cleaning up oil spills, interdicting drugs, or enforcing 
our fishery laws.
  Mr. Chairman, I hope every one of my colleagues votes for this bill.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Carnahan).

                              {time}  1445

  Mr. CARNAHAN. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the leaders and Members 
on both sides of the aisle who have worked together to bring this bill 
to the floor today.
  I rise in support of our Nation's Coast Guard and the heroic men and 
women who serve our country with distinction.
  The Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act is an important 
authorization for our country and for our citizens, as we have seen so 
vividly in the last few weeks. From protecting our natural resources to 
providing maritime security and national defense, the Coast Guard's 
duties are broad in scope, and the performance of those duties has 
never been more important. The authorizations in this bill for 
operations, acquisitions, and maintenance of the fleet seek to serve 
our constituents by allowing the Coast Guard to protect citizens along 
America's waterways, including the Mississippi River district I 
represent in Missouri, and especially now in the gulf coast.
  I would particularly like to take this moment to thank the Coast 
Guard unit at the Port of St. Louis and all the units in the Coast 
Guard District 8, covering 26 States, that were headquartered in New 
Orleans that have temporarily been moved to St. Louis. In St. Louis, 
the unit led by Commander Susan Engelbert, Coast Guard personnel, and 
auxiliary volunteers up and down the Mississippi mobilized with 
unprecedented speed and purpose to assist those communities devastated 
by Katrina. These men and women conducted search and rescue missions 
under extreme and dangerous conditions and often risked their lives, 
just as they have done in countless hurricanes and floods across our 
country.

[[Page H8034]]

  In the gulf, in the last 2 weeks of constant work and sweat, those 
Guard personnel helped make things safer and more secure. With little 
sleep or rest, they performed their duties helping their fellow 
Americans in their time of need. Commander Engelbert said it best when 
she stated how proud she was of the men and women of the U.S. Coast 
Guard's Port of St. Louis: They saved lives. They made a difference.
  For their dedication and their actions, they deserve our thanks. The 
U.S. Coast Guard is a shining example of how well a Federal agency can 
perform with its flexibility, speed, and expertise. I urge my 
colleagues to support this vital authorization bill.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished 
gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Schwartz).
  Ms. SCHWARTZ of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support 
of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2005, a bill that 
will provide the men and women of the Coast Guard with equipment and 
tools that they need to monitor and protect our coastal waters.
  In keeping with our efforts to improve the Federal Government's 
ability to prevent and respond to potential mass incidents, whether 
caused by terrorists, an act of nature, or human error, H.R. 889 will 
maintain the Coast Guard's traditional mission of water safety while 
also improving its ability to contribute to our Homeland Security. To 
that end, H.R. 889 includes provisions from the Delaware River 
Protection Act, a bill Representatives LoBiondo, Castle, Andrews, 
Saxton, and I co-authored in the aftermath of the November 2004 oil 
spill in the Port of Philadelphia.
  The Athos I oil spill caused an estimated $200 million in damages, 
injured wildlife, and temporarily impeded trade and traffic. It served 
as a costly reminder that the Port of Philadelphia contributes 
significantly to our region's economy and that we cannot afford, for 
economic and environmental reasons, to put it in harm's way.
  Under this legislation, strong but necessary steps will be taken to 
prevent a similar incident in the future. However, we cannot stop 
there. We must consider other activities in our ports and waterways 
that might impact the region. That is why I am grateful to the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) for including at my request a 
provision requiring the Coast Guard to conduct a vulnerability 
assessment of a proposal to turn an LNG, liquefied natural gas, peak 
shaving plant into an LNG import terminal in my district in Port 
Richmond, Philadelphia.
  Since coming to Congress, I have been committed and outspoken about 
implementing innovative solutions to our Nation's energy needs by 
promoting more efficient use of traditional sources of energy as well 
as making substantial new investments in discovering and bringing to 
market new energy resources. I support improved efficiency standards 
and enforcement of environmental standards so we can reduce consumption 
of foreign oil; and I led an effort on this floor to accelerate the 
research, development, and deployment of new energy technologies. These 
are critical steps we must take to ensure our Nation's access to the 
energy that we need to power the 21st century.
  There is no doubt that LNG can play a role in efforts to diversify 
sources of energy and supplement our national gas supply and 
production. However, due to the inherent volatility of LNG, there is 
concern that LNG tankers and storage locations will be marked as a 
potential target by terrorists. Their presence on the Delaware also 
raises the risk of another major spill occurring in the river. There is 
no doubt that an incident of an LNG tanker would be devastating to the 
people of Philadelphia, a city home to 1.2 million people, as well as 
those living in the surrounding suburbs, and in the States of New 
Jersey and Delaware. Therefore, we must ensure that LNG tankers and 
facilities are situated safely and appropriately to protect our 
citizens from a potential catastrophic event.
  In the case of Port Richmond, we must thoroughly examine the economic 
and safety variables before allowing LNG tankers to travel up the 
Delaware River, under Benjamin Franklin Bridge, and passing alongside 
Center City Philadelphia while carrying 200,000 meters of LNG.
  A vulnerability assessment will ensure that all elements of the 
proposal are examined and weighed so we can determine what is best to 
ensure public safety as well as meet the region's energy demands.
  I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) for so willingly 
working across party lines to do what is best for our region and for 
his continued leadership on issues concerning the Delaware River. I 
also thank his staff for working with us throughout the drafting 
process. I urge a ``yes'' vote on H.R. 889.
  The CHAIRMAN. The Committee will rise informally.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Terry) assumed the Chair.

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