[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 21, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H8233-H8238]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
UNITED STATES COAST GUARD
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt) is
recognized for 60 minutes.
General Leave
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order this
evening.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Massachusetts?
There was no objection.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, more often than not, debates on public
policy that take place in this Chamber are often characterized with a
certain level of disagreement, thoughtful disagreement, and, hopefully,
respectful disagreement. But tonight that is not the case. Tonight we
put aside partisan disagreements to thank the men and women of the
United States Coast Guard for a job well done.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many Americans have come to
know the Coast Guard and their personnel and their heroism and their
professionalism. They have been made acutely aware about the services
provided by this remarkable service, for it, I would suggest, has truly
been one of the Coast Guard's finest hours. And I know I speak as well
for my good friend and colleague from the Committee on the Judiciary,
the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Coble), in expressing the
profound gratitude of all Americans.
Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to represent southeastern Massachusetts,
I believe home of some of the most beautiful and pristine coastline in
all of New England and, in fact, in all of the United States, and also
the birthplace of the United States Coast Guard. I happen to be a very
proud veteran of the United States Coast Guard, like my colleague, the
gentleman from North Carolina. Of course, he was an officer and a
gentleman, while I was a mere enlisted man.
Back in 1997, my colleague and I, and another colleague, the
gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor), who also served in the United
States Coast Guard, sat down and decided that it was time to bring
together Members of Congress who are committed to lifesaving, law
enforcement, and environmental protection missions that were conducted
at sea. So we created the Congressional Caucus of the United States
Coast Guard. We did this to advocate for this outstanding service and
to increase its profile not just in this institution but among the
American people.
Well, their performance before, during, and in the aftermath of the
tragedy which befell our Gulf States spoke volumes about the service
that they provide to the American people. We learned a lot about the
Coast Guard, or at least, and I am sure I speak for my friend who I
will ask to say some words in a very few minutes, I know that for many,
Hurricane Katrina increased their understanding of really what the
Coast Guard is all about.
But it is not just about search and air rescues. In fact, they are
the de facto lead agency for homeland security, responsible for
guarding 95,000 miles of American coastline and 361 ports. Every day,
the Coast Guard interdicts, for example, drugs bound for the United
States. In fact, just this past week, while performing their functions
in the gulf and along the coastline of the Gulf States, the Coast Guard
seized two tons of cocaine off the Colombian coast in South America,
cocaine that undoubtedly would have been sold on the streets of our
neighborhoods somewhere in this country.
But before I proceed, let me introduce a dear friend, the gentleman
from North Carolina (Mr. Coble), a veteran of the United States Coast
Guard.
Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from
Massachusetts, and I want to say a word or two about the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt).
First of all, I want to thank him for having taken out this Special
Order. And by the way, he was an enlisted man and a gentleman. I too
was an enlisted man and, hopefully, a gentleman; but my colleague and I
became good friends, Mr. Speaker, as a result of our both serving on
the Committee on the Judiciary. I learned one day early in the session
that he was a Coast Guard veteran, and there are not that many of us
around, as you know, in the Congress, and so we became good friends. I
guess ideologically he and I are probably light years apart, but that
has in no way hampered our friendship.
As my colleague knows, when Mother Nature rears her ugly head and
devastation results therefrom, oftentimes accusatory fingers are
forthcoming: Oh, it was not my fault; it was his fault or it was her
fault. But that was not the case with the Coast Guard. I think in the
wake of Katrina, the Coast Guard may well have been the only entity or
agency that came out of that exercise free of fault and free of blame.
The Coast Guard became America's hero.
Now, as the gentleman from Massachusetts pointed out, this certainly
may well have been one of our finest hours. The landing ship tanks that
were manned by Coast Guardsmen in World War II has oftentimes been
called America's finest hour, and of course the day-to-day search-and-
rescue operations that occur as a matter of fact are no big deal.
Coasties go out and rescue distressed victims. No big thing for them.
It is all in a day's work. But as my colleague pointed out, when we saw
those heroic rescues by the Coast Guard air arm during Katrina, it was
unbelievable.
It is a shame that it took a 9/11 or a Katrina for many Americans to
become personal friends with the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard was the
forgotten service. It was the fifth armed forcement, but rarely was
much said about it. Oftentimes, and I am sure my colleague has been
addressed in this manner, as have I, where Coast Guardsmen were
referred to as members of the Hooligan Navy, the shallow-water sailors.
[[Page H8234]]
Oftentimes, when I was on Active Duty, which seems more like the dark
ages, it was not uncommon for us to become beneficiaries of Navy hand-
me-downs, equipment the Navy was about to survey or to abandon, which
we would warmly embrace.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Like an orphan.
Mr. COBLE. Like an orphan, sure. Excellent example.
So I am very pleased, Mr. Speaker, that my colleague, the gentleman
from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt), took out this Special Order.
Now, this has nothing to do with Katrina, and I see our friend from
New London has joined us as well, but oftentimes back home, I would
appear at Veterans Day or Memorial Day services and inevitably you
would hear the hymns of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the
Marines, but conspicuously absent was the most beautiful marching hymn
of all, Semper Paratus, the Coast Guard's marching hymn.
{time} 1945
I went to a music director once at a high school and I asked her why
was ``Semper Paratus'' not played. She said, you get it for me, and I
will play it next year. It was the first one played the next year. Now
each time I have been since 9/11, even back home, ``Semper Paratus'' is
always included in the musical renditions. Of course it always is up
here, but even in the hinterland it is being done.
Mr. Speaker, I say to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
Delahunt), as a fellow coastie, and as a fellow member of the Committee
on the Judiciary, I thank you again for having taken out this Special
Order.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Coble). We have been joined by another friend and a strong
advocate for the Coast Guard representing the coast of Connecticut, the
gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons).
Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time. It is a great pleasure for me to be here tonight to speak in
support of our wonderful Coast Guard and the great things that they
have done, not only in response to the terrible storm, Hurricane
Katrina, but also the many things that they have done over the years to
keep our people and our homeland more secure.
It is also nice to gather in a bipartisan fashion not to point
fingers of blame, but to speak words of praise, because I think that is
very appropriate. The time will come when the various oversight panels,
commissions and committees, our own oversight committees will do the
job of looking into what has gone wrong; but I think it is easy for us
to gather here tonight and point out some of the things that have gone
right.
The distinguished coastie to my left, the gentleman from North
Carolina (Mr. Coble), a Coast Guard person many years ago, not too many
years ago, but a few years ago, pointed out the motto is ``Semper
Paratus,'' always ready. They prepare their young men and young women
in one of the finest institutions we have in this country, which is the
Coast Guard Academy in New London, and I quickly say that the number of
applications for that fine academy, for positions available, exceeds
the number of applications that you get for your very fine Harvard
college in Massachusetts and my very fine university in Connecticut.
In fact, of all colleges across the country, the Coast Guard Academy
receives more applications for positions available than any other
college in the country. It is a testament to the quality of education
that they get there. It is a testament to the fine young men and women
who graduate.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I do not think that we can overstate and
overemphasize the quality of education provided at the Coast Guard
Academy. That is reflected really in the caliber and quality of the
officers that it produces to serve in the United States Coast Guard and
to have many of them go on to other careers in public service. It is a
first-rate institution. With all due respect to the other services,
clearly they also have service academies that are excellent, but the
Coast Guard Academy in New London provides an education without equal.
Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Speaker, I think the gentleman is absolutely
correct. When we talk about being prepared or always being prepared,
that preparation does begin for many of our Coast Guard officers at the
academy. Of course then you have the OCS, which is also located at the
academy. You have senior officer training, and you have leadership
training for the noncommissioned officers in the Coast Guard.
So they are prepared. They are prepared to deal with difficult and
dangerous situations. They are prepared to deal with fishermen at sea
to make sure that our fisheries are regulated. They are prepared to
deal with the recreational boaters that we have off the coast of
Massachusetts, we have in Connecticut, and I suspect those are off the
coast of North Carolina as well; and when those recreational boaters
find themselves in difficulty, the Coast Guard is there.
They were prepared on 9/11, and when I went to New York City a few
days after the attacks of 9/11, it was a Coast Guard cutter in the
harbor of the Hudson River and a Coast Guard helicopter that was flying
overhead, so a very quick and immediate response.
On Wednesday of the week of Hurricane Katrina, the day after the
levees broke, I received a call from a friend of mine who lived in New
Orleans, Louisiana, and he called to ask for my help to intervene in
getting some Federal response down there as soon as possible. The next
morning when I called him back, he said he had received a call from the
Coast Guard, that he had called them and they called him back and that
two Coast Guard vessels were in the process of clearing the channel up
into Louisiana to provide supplies, food, fuel and all of the things
that were necessary, and that they had done it within 24 hours of the
breaking of the levees. So it was a Federal response that was immediate
and directed to assist people in distress.
The results speak for themselves. There were 24,135 lives saved;
33,544 individuals saved or evacuated. And 12,000 of those were saved
by air resources. That means helicopters with long lines down into tree
tops and roof tops, which is, by the way, a very dangerous undertaking
not only for the individual on the end of the line but for the
helicopter pilot and the crew because often they have to hover over
power lines or trees where they can strike and crash. But none of those
things took place.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to note that there
is no training in any service to use a sledge hammer to break through a
roof to rescue an individual while you are dangling from a helicopter.
Some of our more recognized acts of heroism have been by rescue
swimmers. I remember vividly that scene in the movie and also in the
book ``Perfect Storm'' when those rescue swimmers from the United
States Coast Guard, Air Station Cape Cod, I might add, went into seas
of 80 and 90 feet. But here in New Orleans in the Gulf States, they do
not have a specialty that involves breaking through roofs, walking
through toxic water and being in the position where they are dealing
with all sorts of very dangerous circumstances; but they did it, and
they did it so well.
Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, this is a good time for me to say this. The
enlisted rate rescue swimmer was not known when I was in the Coast
Guard.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Nor when I was.
Mr. COBLE. It is probably the most unsung rate in the military. The
Coast Guard has long been known as the armed service that gets more
done for less. I do not mean this as an indictment against our sister
services, by any means, but the orphan syndrome as has been pointed
out. And this is a good time to mention the Deepwater Project because
the Coast Guard needs additional appropriated moneys to address the
antiquated equipment, the cutters, the helicopters, the aircraft that
are in dire need of replacement.
Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with the gentleman from
North Carolina (Mr. Coble), and I thank the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt) again for raising these issues tonight.
When we consider the flexibility of these men and women in addressing
a problem that perhaps they had not seen before, and yet they did it
successfully, they heard noises from the attics and rooftops, and they
addressed those problems' need immediately. They
[[Page H8235]]
broke through and were able to bring people out. It is a great
testament to the service and to their willingness to risk their lives
and their safety to save others. That always has characterized the
Coast Guard.
I think it is a testament to the excellence of this service that when
it became clear that the Federal response was not producing the results
that we all would have wanted in that circumstance, for reasons which
will be determined at some future date, who was named to take over? It
was Vice Admiral Thad W. Allen, chief of staff, third-ranking man in
the Coast Guard, somebody I have met and known before, somebody who has
had distinguished sea duties, somebody who actually headed up the Long
Island Sound Station for a number of years. He is a highly educated,
highly experienced, highly trained man with a somewhat low profile, but
the capability to get the job done. That is so typical of our Coast
Guard, that they are not out there with a lot of flash and a lot of
pizzazz; but they get the job done, and that is so important.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, the point that the gentleman from
Connecticut (Mr. Simmons) made about Admiral Allen being nominated by
the President and put in charge, I think, went a long way to restoring
the confidence of the American people in our ability to handle from
that point on this emergency. I know that I share with both the
gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons) and with the gentleman from
North Carolina (Mr. Coble) tremendous confidence in Admiral Allen.
The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons) made the point earlier
about they responded so quickly to the disaster that the first rescue
actually occurred as the eye of the storm passed; and in the midst of
the eye they began operations, plucking people out of harm's way. It is
truly remarkable because they had a plan. They did that prepositioning.
They were ready. They honored their motto, ``Semper Paratus.''
They knew what they were doing, and they are doing it again. I just
read recently a memorandum, a Coast Guard memorandum, prepositioning
and preparing for Hurricane Rita. If Members would bear with me for
just a moment, let me read this so that maybe we can reassure some
folks who feel threatened by what I understand is now a Category 5
hurricane: ``The Coast Guard is preparing assets throughout the Gulf
States for the arrival of Hurricane Rita which is expected to reach the
gulf coast later this week. The Coast Guard is making strategic shifts
in personnel resources while others are conducting overdue maintenance
to aircraft used to support Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.''
That goes to the admonition of the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Coble) about the Deepwater Project and the need to provide assets so
this can-do service can do it, because we cannot continue to ask the
impossible. I think we have to understand that those helicopters, those
cutters, those small boats, not only are they old and in some cases
they are described as legacy assets, and I presume that is a euphemism
for really, really, really old, maybe my age or something along those
lines.
But let me just cite one example of a legacy asset, and I think it
really underscores the need for all of us, Democrats and Republicans,
to come together and advocate for the assets that are necessary so the
Coast Guard can continue to respond to these natural disasters, can
continue to interdict drugs coming into our communities, can continue
to respond to environmental disasters.
{time} 2000
It is my understanding that they have responded in Louisiana and the
Gulf States to over 240 fuel spills. Just imagine what that would mean
if that preparedness, if that can-do attitude, if those resources were
not there. I would believe it would be extremely dangerous and clearly
wreak environmental ecological havoc in terms of the impacted and
affected States. But they did it. They went out and they found a way to
do it. But we cannot call upon them to continue to do it with legacy
assets.
I remember vividly the story of a cutter called the Storis, launched
in 1942, that still is in operation, that while in the Bering Sea on a
rescue mission, while a lifeboat was being lowered to effect a rescue,
the davits on the superstructure ripped off, dumping nine Coast Guard
personnel into the freezing waters of the Bering Sea. Fortunately,
those Coast Guard personnel were rescued, and those whom initially they
were to rescue were also rescued. But think of the tragedy because of
an aging fleet. I think out of 40 fleets, it ranks number 39 in terms
of age as far as major naval fleets are concerned.
We are putting these heroes that are doing so much for us and for the
American people at risk unless we accelerate the Deepwater Initiative,
unless we provide the kind of assets that, when it comes time for such
a crisis such as we have experienced and potentially could experience
by this weekend, if we do not give them the assets, then we are asking
them to do the impossible.
Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DELAHUNT. I yield to the gentleman from Connecticut.
Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Speaker, let me speak briefly to that. I have had
the honor for the last 4\1/2\, 5 years, to serve on the Coast Guard and
Maritime Transportation Subcommittee. We initially supported the
recommendations that were made by Admiral Loy, when he was commandant,
to initiate the Deepwater project, which was the most ambitious
recapitalization project in probably the whole history of the Coast
Guard. And I am looking at the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Coble). We might consider him a legacy asset as well, because his
historic knowledge of the Coast Guard is so substantial. But I will
tell the Members he is just as sharp today as he has ever been; so some
legacies are good. But one of the key considerations that we had when
we bought on to the Deepwater project was, would the Coast Guard be
able to implement this program successfully, and it was a very
ambitious program, implement it successfully over a period of years?
Certainly the subcommittee and the full committee under the leadership
of the gentleman from New Jersey (Chairman LoBiondo) and the gentleman
from Alaska (Chairman Young) have been extremely supportive. On
occasions there has been some slippage in the funding, and we have
tried to address that as a body. We know that the Coast Guard has to
submit through OMB and that there are always challenges in doing that.
But I think that this Congress has committed itself in a bipartisan
fashion to the Deepwater project, and I think that we are beginning to
see the phasing out of some of those legacy assets. My recollection is
a year or so ago, we took over 100 small vessels out of the inventory
and have been replacing them with more capable boats, which I think is
tremendously important.
But also something that many Americans do not focus on when it comes
to the role of the Coast Guard in homeland security and in dealing both
with natural disasters and manmade disasters like 9/11 is we anticipate
that there may be a breakdown of civil order in an area that is hit by
a disaster of this sort. That is just something that we expect. And the
Coast Guard, unlike the military, is not restrained by posse comitatus.
The Coast Guard has arrest powers. They exercise those arrest powers in
the war on drugs, where they operate in the Caribbean and elsewhere,
and they are allowed to board ships and to arrest. They can exercise
those powers in issues such as smuggling or other illegal activities.
But, in fact, the Coast Guard has the capacity to go into an area that
has been devastated by a natural or a man-made disaster where civil
order has broken down, where there is no communication, where police
cannot talk to firemen, firemen cannot talk to police. They can
actually go in and they can arrest those who are doing harm and save
those who need to be saved. And that is a unique capacity for our Coast
Guard, and it reflects a very important capability as we look to the
future of homeland security.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, there is an additional
task that I know that we are aware of, and our colleagues here and I
think many Americans, that when we talk about port security on the land
[[Page H8236]]
ready to deploy, particularly, for example, when an LNG tanker is
coming into Boston Harbor or any harbor or any port in this country,
that port security unit is there to ensure that there will be nothing
untoward happen and that the vessel, the tanker, can unload without
concern. And, again, those low profile, if you will, but absolutely
essential critical tasks are performed every day.
I can remember directly in the aftermath of 9/11, cruise liners being
boarded in Boston Harbor. And it was the Coast Guard that conducted the
search, that had their divers go and check the hulls, that were there
to provide confidence to the American people and to those particular
passengers that they could enjoy their hard-earned vacation that they
were taking on the cruise liner.
The Coast Guard implicates itself in so many different ways in our
daily lives. The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons) mentioned
that if one is a recreational boater, there is nothing more assuring
that, if they get themselves into some trouble, to know that they can
get on that radio and they can call that Coast Guard; or if they are a
commercial fisherman and they are out in tough waters and something
should happen to their vessel, at least there is hope that they can be
rescued.
Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DELAHUNT. I yield to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr.
Simmons).
Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Speaker, a very sad moment in our history, but a
moment where, once again, the Coast Guard was there and got the job
done, the gentleman may recall just a few years ago the son of the late
President Kennedy was flying an aircraft along the New England Coast,
accompanied by his wife and his wife's sister. And, tragically, the
aircraft went down just to the west of Block Island at the mouth of
Long Island Sound. And it was a terrible event for all of us who
remembered his father and the terrible tragedy of his father's death,
and now it seemed that once again this family was in distress and that
something terrible had happened to them. But the Coast Guard from our
New London station and the Coast Guard from the Long Island Sound
station moved out there very quickly and very efficiently. They set up
staging areas offshore. They were able to locate the aircraft and to
recover the aircraft in what was a sad moment but an important moment
in our history, and they did it in a fashion that was respectful, that
respected the Kennedy family, and also respected the emotions of all
Americans who followed that tragic case for a couple of days, and they
did it without fanfare and without a lot of hoopla. They just went
about their business and got it done.
Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DELAHUNT. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.
Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, this is not unlike a family reunion. The
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt) and I are former Coast
Guardsmen. The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons) represented the
Academy in his district.
Let me share this with my colleagues. It has nothing to do with the
recent problems in New Orleans, but it has much to do with the Coast
Guard. Some years ago, I was having an evening meal in the home of a
Coast Guardsman, who is the son of a former keeper at one of the
lifeboat stations along the Carolina Coast. And my Coast Guardsman
friend's mom, and the dad of the family had since expired, but she was
almost in tears when she was recalling the decommissioning or the
shutting down of the lifesaving stations along the Carolina Coast. She
said it will never be the same again. The Coast Guard will never be
able to function.
Well, old habits die hard, as the gentlemen knows, and, of course,
the Coast Guard continues to function. What was going on was they were
streamlining. They were decommissioning four or five stations, making
one great support center or a group station, if you will. But the Coast
Guard will indeed function well.
And this has been a very fine evening. I thank the gentleman from
Connecticut (Mr. Simmons) for having joined the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt). The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
Delahunt) was the lead dog. It was his idea, and I appreciate very much
his having done it.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the lieutenant commander for his
comments. I feel like I should salute at this point in time, given our
respective histories in the Coast Guard.
I would like to just make an observation in response to the gentleman
from Connecticut's (Mr. Simmons) review of the tragedy that befell the
Kennedy family. As they both know, I represent the South Shore of
Boston, Cape Cod and Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and obviously
Hyannisport is on Cape Cod. I know Senator Kennedy well. I know the
Kennedy family well. And everything that the gentleman from Connecticut
(Mr. Simmons) said was so true, that the way the Coast Guard conducted
itself in a respectful, professional, no fanfare manner meant so much
to that family in a time of tragedy and crisis, as it does with every
family in this country.
We talked about aircraft. I happen also to have the Coast Guard
airway stationed at a military reservation on Cape Cod. So I am
familiar with those helicopters that go out and those fixed-wing
aircraft. And as both the gentlemen know, their main search-and-rescue
helicopter, the Jayhawk, experienced inflight engine failures at a rate
of 329 mishaps per 100,000. The FAA sets a safety standard that is
acceptable in terms of an aircraft at 1, not 329, but 1 mishap per
100,000 hours of flight time.
So what we have is not only do we have an aging fleet, and the
Deepwater Initiative incorporates upgrading the air assets of the Coast
Guard, and as the gentleman from Connecticut well knows, the First
District extends from the Canadian border down to New York and that air
wing is so important. And these failures limit the Jayhawk's ability to
hover over a distressed vessel, for example, and places the lives of
its crew and those that hopefully will be rescued in grave danger.
The indisputable fact is that the demands on the Coast Guard have
vastly outpaced the resources that are available to them.
{time} 2015
I think it is our responsibility to give them those assets, because
we want them to escort that LNG tanker. And when the parents of an
overdosed teenager discover that the Coast Guard boats were not fast
enough to catch the drug dealers, even though they had the
intelligence, they could not respond because they did not have the
vessel, we do not want to look them in the eyes and say that we failed
them.
Or when the family of a deceased fisherman discovered that the Coast
Guard could not get there in time because that Jayhawk helicopter was
grounded, we do not want that.
Two centuries of experience has taught us that we can rely on the
professionalism and the heroism and the commitment of the Coast Guard,
whether it is hurricanes or airplane crashes or dealing with drug
smugglers, or dealing with foreign factory trawlers that we had a
problem with in terms of overfishing our territorial waters. The Coast
Guard has always been there. They have been on call for some 200 years.
Mr. Speaker, it is tempting sometimes to put things off. It is really
easy here in Washington to do that. It is very tempting. But a long way
from here, out in those waves and those white caps, when something is
happening to people, that is what we have to keep in mind. We want to
not just thank them for what they have done and honor them for what
they have done; but we want, I know, to provide them with the
wherewithal to continue to honor that wonderful motto of ``Semper
Paratus, always ready.''
Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Speaker, are we getting close to the end of our
time?
Mr. DELAHUNT. I think we are winding down, and I just promised the
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) that I would give her 5 minutes on
some unrelated topic that I do not know what she is going to address.
Mr. SIMMONS. Well, I have a concluding remark, and I think the
gentleman from North Carolina does as well.
Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, I just want the gentleman from Massachusetts
to keep in mind that the gentlewoman from the Buckeye State is an
appropriator, so she can appropriate some of these monies.
[[Page H8237]]
Mr. DELAHUNT. That is right. So we will be very good to her tonight.
Mr. SIMMONS. That is what we call a very ``appropriate'' comment.
Two concluding remarks, and I thank the gentleman for this Special
Order.
The first is that approximately 2,200 active duty Coast Guard members
and their families live and work in the area of Katrina, and many of
those 2,000 families, Coast Guard families, active-duty Coast Guard
families lost their homes and discovered that their families were
evacuees, just as much as were citizens along the gulf coast. Yet in
spite of that distress, they continue to perform in an outstanding
fashion.
The Coast Guard Foundation, which is located in my hometown of
Stonington, Connecticut, put out a press release that all retirees and
all folks who participate in supporting the Coast Guard Foundation are
invited to provide financial assistance, and they hope to raise about
$1 million of financial assistance to help those active duty families
to recover with incidentals and costs that may not be covered as a
routine matter.
So once again, it is an example of the Coast Guard family reaching
out to take care of their own, to provide assistance, which is so much
a part of the tradition of the Coast Guard.
Finally, I am most honored as an Army officer to be here with these
distinguished Coast Guard officers and ``Coasties,'' but I will share
with my colleagues a personal story. My wife's father was in the Coast
Guard, was the captain of the New London Port for a period during World
War II, and then did convoy duty across the Atlantic for about 3\1/2\
years. So I feel a little bit of the tradition of the Coast Guard; and
as we work to assist and support the next generation of Coasties, I
think back to my father-in-law and his generation and all of the great
things that they did.
Again, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts and the gentleman
from North Carolina for inviting me to participate.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, let me acknowledge the gentleman's
advocacy on the part of the Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Foundation.
Does the gentleman have an address or a contact for that foundation?
Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Speaker, the foundation is located in Stonington,
Connecticut, and their phone number is 860-535-0786, or they can call
my office and we would be happy to put them in touch.
Mr. DELAHUNT. And that would be Congressman Robert Simmons, and I am
sure that people from all over the country would not have difficulty
finding that number, and it would certainly be a wonderful
acknowledgment of the Coast Guard personnel that are saving lives, are
protecting people, and yet have experienced their own losses as a
result of Katrina. I know right now, those helicopters and those fixed-
wing aircraft and those vessels of the United States Coast Guard are
out there ready for Rita and any consequences that hopefully, God
willing, will not be visited upon any of our American people.
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to join my colleagues:
the Gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. Delahunt; the Gentleman from New
Jersey, Mr. LoBiondo; the Gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Coble; and
the Gentleman from Mississippi, Mr. Taylor, to pay tribute to the U.S.
Coast Guard. Let me also add a personal note to the Distinguished
Gentleman from Mississippi, (Mr. Taylor) to express my deepest concerns
for him and his family after the tragic events of Hurricane Katrina.
Mr. Speaker, as the Ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on the Coast
Guard and Maritime Transportation, I have the privilege of working
closely with our men and women who bravely serve in the Coast Guard.
Mr. Speaker, on Friday September 16th, I had the privilege of joining
my subcommittee's Chairman, Mr. LoBiondo, on a tour of New Orleans and
the disaster area impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Mr. LoBiondo and I
came together, put aside our political differences, and focused all of
our attention on the needs of the Coast Guard. Even before we toured
the Gulf Coast, Mr. LoBiondo and I, along with Chairman Young and
Ranking Member Oberstar, added language to the Coast Guard and Maritime
Authorization Act to honor and commend the Coast Guard for their
valiant work in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
During our visit, we had the opportunity to listen to crew members,
pilots, and other Coast Guard personnel describe to us the horrific and
tragic events that happened in the days following the hurricane.
Upon the announcement that a category 5 hurricane was on a path for
the Gulf Coast region, the Coast Guard acted diligently to activate a
plan of redeploying their forces and resources so that they could be on
the ground operating as soon as the path of the storm had cleared.
The Coast Guard's plan exceeded expectations, and because of their
resolve to respond to the country's needs, the Coast Guard was
operational and in-place allowing the very first air rescue to take
place within two hours of the hurricane passing the region.
The numbers speak for themselves: since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast
the Coast Guard has saved or evacuated 33,500 people. One helicopter
crew rescued 150 during a single shift!
Mr. Speaker, with incredible resolve and expertise, the U.S. Coast
Guard brought order and infrastructure to the unstable region. Because
of their strategic planning, training, and leadership the Coast Guard
was able to implement and carry forth a plan of action that saved
lives.
Before, during, and after the events of Hurricane Katrina the Coast
Guard clearly showed the nation that their motto, Semper Paratus--
Always Ready, is very well-earned.
In addition to exceptional performance in the Gulf Coast, the Coast
Guard continues to serve our nation across the seas and borders of U.S.
waters. On a daily basis, the Coast Guard is intercepting drug
smugglers, monitoring illegal immigration, and rescuing hundreds lost
at sea.
In recent years, the Coast Guard has been charged with some very
difficult tasks. Since being moved to the Department of Homeland
Security, their role has grown and expanded. To date, they have met
many challenges, and exceeded every expectation.
Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that my colleagues will join me in
honoring the service men and women of the Coast Guard. They are the
ones who foresaw the dangers that threaten our soil and they are the
ones that responded.
Let us never forget, that all of our service members, regardless of
department, serve our nation bravely. They volunteer, without
hesitation, and I join all Americans in gratitude for their service.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms.
Kaptur), my distinguished colleague and friend.
Honoring the Life and Legacy of Barney Quilter
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my dear colleague, the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt), for yielding me the
remaining time and thank our colleagues, the gentleman from North
Carolina (Mr. Coble) and the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons),
for participating in this great tribute to the Coast Guard, which we on
the Great Lakes know so well.
I am honored to add these words this evening as we close the House.
That is, Mr. Speaker, summer's end has ushered in the end of an era to
the region I represent of northwest Ohio. Our community's elder
statesman, Barney Quilter, passed from this life on August 17, 2005,
and he had achieved 86 years young. As husband, father, father figure
for our community, kind and generous spirit, and political leader, he
built a legacy that spanned more than 3 decades of service, even after
his 1994 retirement from Ohio's General Assembly.
His achievements were stellar. He championed the Maumee Bay State
Park on Lake Erie as a lasting legacy to the future, the largest State
park in Ohio. He sponsored worker protection laws, guiding into place
in our State cornerstones to working men and women's rights. Barney
Quilter left so much to all of us. His quiet diligence brought so many
efforts to fruition. Improvements throughout our State may be laid to
his credit. Former colleague Patrick Sweeney of Cleveland explained
that Representative Quilter's legacy can really be found in all of the
accomplishments that do not carry his name. He noted, it just got done.
You never saw Barney's fingerprints on a news release; it was just the
way he was. His influence is, and will be for many years, enormous.
Born in 1919 to James and Helen Marie Quilter, James Barney Quilter
grew up on Toledo's famous East Side. A boxer, his career ended when he
was called into service in World War II where he served in the Army's
167th Combat Engineering Battalion. In 1967, he was persuaded to run
for State representative. Reluctant, he finally agreed, but only for
one term. Toledo's voters decided differently and reelected
[[Page H8238]]
him to successive 2-year terms until he retired at the end of his 14th
term.
Truly a statesman in the best sense of the word, Barney Quilter rose
to power and prominence in the Ohio legislature, serving as its speaker
pro tempore, leading the Ohio House in tandem with Speaker Riffe for 20
years, an acclaimed and effective, powerful team. Partisanship was not
Barney's goal. He worked side by side with legislators to move forward
initiatives which benefited all the people of Ohio.
Henry Clay said: ``Government is a trust, and the officers of the
government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are
created for the benefit of the people.'' This creed expressed by the
19th century giant was exemplified in the tenure of Representative
Barney Quilter. His example should be emulated by all of us in public
life.
A noble public servant, Barney shared his expertise and wisdom with
any and all who asked. He was a real mentor to many, including myself;
to his own son Bernie who also followed a path into public service. His
daughter Mary Ann has devoted herself to her family and to educating
the next generation. Barney and Mary's family are living testimonials
to the dedication to others their stellar family exemplifies.
Despite his legislative career, Barney Quilter never lost sight of
his true happiness: his wife and his children. He and his wife Mary
shared 52 loving years together until Mary's passing in 1996. For
nearly 2 decades, Barney faithfully would minister to her, even reading
to her regularly, as she bore gracefully a debilitating illness that
made it impossible to communicate with her family. He loved her so
much.
Barney's own passing leaves his son Bernie and daughter Mary Ann and
six grandchildren with our heartfelt condolences. We mourn the passing
of this great American. We can celebrate his life and his service. May
his strength and goodness guide us all as we seek to follow in his
footsteps, always moving forward, no matter how steep the hill. Thank
you, Barney Quilter. Onward.
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