[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 123 (Wednesday, September 27, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H7632-H7635]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MARINE DEBRIS RESEARCH, PREVENTION, AND REDUCTION ACT
Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
Senate bill (S. 362) to establish a program within the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration and the United States Coast Guard to
help identify, determine sources of, assess, reduce, and prevent marine
debris and its adverse impacts on marine environment and navigation
safety, in coordination with non-Federal entities, and for other
purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
S. 362
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Marine Debris Research,
Prevention, and Reduction Act''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to help identify, determine sources of, assess, reduce,
and prevent marine debris and its adverse impacts on the
marine environment and navigation safety;
(2) to reactivate the Interagency Marine Debris
Coordinating Committee; and
(3) to develop a Federal marine debris information
clearinghouse.
SEC. 3. NOAA MARINE DEBRIS PREVENTION AND REMOVAL PROGRAM.
(a) Establishment of Program.--There is established, within
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a Marine
Debris Prevention and Removal Program to reduce and prevent
the occurrence and adverse impacts of marine debris on the
marine environment and navigation safety.
(b) Program Components.--The Administrator, acting through
the Program and subject to the availability of
appropriations, shall carry out the following activities:
(1) Mapping, identification, impact assessment, removal,
and prevention.--The Administrator shall, in consultation
with relevant Federal agencies, undertake marine debris
mapping, identification, impact assessment, prevention, and
removal efforts, with a focus on marine debris posing a
threat to living marine resources and navigation safety,
including--
(A) the establishment of a process, building on existing
information sources maintained by Federal agencies such as
the Environmental Protection Agency and the Coast Guard, for
cataloguing and maintaining an inventory of marine debris and
its impacts found in the navigable waters of the United
States and the United States exclusive economic zone,
including location, material, size, age, and origin, and
impacts on habitat, living marine resources, human health,
and navigation safety;
(B) measures to identify the origin, location, and
projected movement of marine debris within United States
navigable waters, the United States exclusive economic zone,
and the high seas, including the use of oceanographic,
atmospheric, satellite, and remote sensing data; and
(C) development and implementation of strategies, methods,
priorities, and a plan for preventing and removing marine
debris from United States navigable waters and within the
United States exclusive economic zone, including development
of local or regional protocols for removal of derelict
fishing gear and other marine debris.
(2) Reducing and preventing loss of gear.--The
Administrator shall improve efforts to reduce adverse impacts
of lost and discarded fishing gear on living marine resources
and navigation safety, including--
(A) research and development of alternatives to gear posing
threats to the marine environment, and methods for marking
gear used in specific fisheries to enhance the tracking,
recovery, and identification of lost and discarded gear; and
(B) development of effective nonregulatory measures and
incentives to cooperatively reduce the volume of lost and
discarded fishing gear and to aid in its recovery.
(3) Outreach.--The Administrator shall undertake outreach
and education of the public and other stakeholders, such as
the fishing industry, fishing gear manufacturers, and other
marine-dependent industries, and the plastic and waste
management industries, on sources of marine debris, threats
associated with marine debris and approaches to identify,
determine sources of, assess, reduce, and prevent marine
debris and its adverse impacts on the marine environment and
navigational safety, including outreach and education
activities through public-private initiatives. The
Administrator shall coordinate outreach and education
activities under this paragraph with any outreach programs
conducted under section 2204 of the Marine Plastic Pollution
Research and Control Act of 1987 (33 U.S.C. 1915).
(c) Grants, Cooperative Agreements, and Contracts.--
(1) In general.--The Administrator, acting through the
Program, shall enter into cooperative agreements and
contracts and provide financial assistance in the form of
grants for projects to accomplish the purpose set forth in
section 2(1).
(2) Grant cost sharing requirement.--
(A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph (B),
Federal funds for any grant under this section may not exceed
50 percent of the total cost of such project. For purposes of
this subparagraph, the non-Federal share of project costs may
be provided by in-kind contributions and other noncash
support.
(B) Waiver.--The Administrator may waive all or part of the
matching requirement under subparagraph (A) if the
Administrator determines that no reasonable means are
available through which applicants can meet the matching
requirement and the probable benefit of such project
outweighs the public interest in such matching requirement.
(3) Amounts paid and services rendered under consent.--
(A) Consent decrees and orders.--If authorized by the
Administrator or the Attorney General, as appropriate, the
non-Federal share of the cost of a project carried out under
this Act may include money paid pursuant to, or the value of
any in-kind service performed under, an administrative order
on consent or judicial consent decree that will remove or
prevent marine debris.
(B) Other decrees and orders.--The non-Federal share of the
cost of a project carried out under this Act may not include
any money paid pursuant to, or the value of any in-kind
service performed under, any other administrative order or
court order.
(4) Eligibility.--Any State, local, or tribal government
whose activities affect research or regulation of marine
debris, and any institution of higher education, nonprofit
organization, or commercial organization with expertise in a
field related to marine debris, is eligible to submit to the
Administrator a marine debris proposal under the grant
program.
(5) Grant criteria and guidelines.--Within 180 days after
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator
shall promulgate necessary guidelines for implementation of
the grant program, including development of criteria and
priorities for grants. In developing those guidelines, the
Administrator shall consult with--
(A) the Interagency Committee;
(B) regional fishery management councils established under
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
(16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.);
(C) State, regional, and local governmental entities with
marine debris experience;
(D) marine-dependent industries; and
(E) nongovernmental organizations involved in marine debris
research, prevention, or removal activities.
(6) Project review and approval.--The Administrator shall--
(A) review each marine debris project proposal to determine
if it meets the grant criteria and supports the goals of this
Act;
(B) after considering any written comments and
recommendations based on the review, approve or disapprove
the proposal; and
(C) provide notification of that approval or disapproval to
the person who submitted the proposal.
(7) Project reporting.--Each grantee under this section
shall provide periodic reports as required by the
Administrator. Each report shall include all information
required by the Administrator for evaluating the progress and
success in meeting its stated goals, and impact of the grant
activities on the marine debris problem.
SEC. 4. COAST GUARD PROGRAM.
(a) Strategy.--The Commandant of the Coast Guard, in
consultation with the Interagency Committee, shall--
(1) take actions to reduce violations of and improve
implementation of MARPOL Annex V and the Act to Prevent
Pollution from Ships (33 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.) with respect to
the discard of plastics and other garbage from vessels;
(2) take actions to cost-effectively monitor and enforce
compliance with MARPOL Annex V and the Act to Prevent
Pollution from Ships (33 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.), including
through cooperation and coordination with other Federal and
State enforcement programs;
(3) take actions to improve compliance with requirements
under MARPOL Annex V and section 6 of the Act to Prevent
Pollution
[[Page H7633]]
from Ships (33 U.S.C. 1905) that all United States ports and
terminals maintain and monitor the adequacy of receptacles
for the disposal of plastics and other garbage, including
through promoting voluntary government-industry partnerships;
(4) develop and implement a plan, in coordination with
industry and recreational boaters, to improve ship-board
waste management, including recordkeeping, and access to
waste reception facilities for ship-board waste;
(5) take actions to improve international cooperation to
reduce marine debris; and
(6) establish a voluntary reporting program for commercial
vessel operators and recreational boaters to report incidents
of damage to vessels and disruption of navigation caused by
marine debris, and observed violations of laws and
regulations relating to the disposal of plastics and other
marine debris.
(b) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Commandant of the Coast Guard
shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of
Representatives a report evaluating the Coast Guard's
progress in implementing subsection (a).
(c) External Evaluation and Recommendations on Annex V.--
(1) In general.--The Commandant of the Coast Guard shall
enter into an arrangement with the National Research Council
under which the National Research Council shall submit, by
not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of
this Act and in consultation with the Commandant and the
Interagency Committee, to the Committee on Commerce, Science,
and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of
Representatives a comprehensive report on the effectiveness
of international and national measures to prevent and reduce
marine debris and its impact.
(2) Contents.--The report required under paragraph (1)
shall include--
(A) an evaluation of international and domestic
implementation of MARPOL Annex V and the Act to Prevent
Pollution from Ships (33 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.) and
recommendations of cost-effective actions to improve
implementation and compliance with such measures to reduce
impacts of marine debris;
(B) recommendation of additional Federal or international
actions, including changes to international and domestic law
or regulations, needed to further reduce the impacts of
marine debris; and
(C) evaluation of the role of floating fish aggregation
devices in the generation of marine debris and existing legal
mechanisms to reduce impacts of such debris, focusing on
impacts in the Western Pacific and Central Pacific regions.
SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.
(a) Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee.--
Section 2203 of the Marine Plastic Pollution Research and
Control Act of 1987 (33 U.S.C. 1914) is amended--
(1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the following:
``(a) Establishment of Interagency Marine Debris
Coordinating Committee.--There is established an Interagency
Marine Debris Coordinating Committee to coordinate a
comprehensive program of marine debris research and
activities among Federal agencies, in cooperation and
coordination with non-governmental organizations, industry,
universities, and research institutions, States, Indian
tribes, and other nations, as appropriate.''; and
(2) in subsection (c), by inserting ``public, interagency''
before ``forum''.
(b) Definition of Marine Debris.--The Administrator and the
Commandant of the Coast Guard, in consultation with the
Interagency Committee established under subsection (a), shall
jointly develop and promulgate through regulations a
definition of the term ``marine debris'' for purposes of this
Act.
(c) Reports.--
(1) Interagency report on marine debris impacts and
strategies.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 12 months after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Interagency Committee, through
the chairperson, shall complete and submit to the Committee
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the
Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives a
report that--
(i) identifies sources of marine debris;
(ii) the ecological and economic impact of marine debris;
(iii) alternatives for reducing, mitigating, preventing,
and controlling the harmful affects of marine debris;
(iv) the social and economic costs and benefits of such
alternatives; and
(v) recommendations to reduce marine debris both
domestically and internationally.
(B) Recommendations.--The report shall provide strategies
and recommendations on--
(i) establishing priority areas for action to address
leading problems relating to marine debris;
(ii) developing strategies and approaches to prevent,
reduce, remove, and dispose of marine debris, including
through private-public partnerships;
(iii) establishing effective and coordinated education and
outreach activities; and
(iv) ensuring Federal cooperation with, and assistance to,
the coastal States (as that term is defined in section 304 of
the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1453)),
Indian tribes, and local governments in the identification,
determination of sources, prevention, reduction, management,
mitigation, and control of marine debris and its adverse
impacts.
(2) Annual progress reports.--Not later than 3 years after
the date of the enactment of this Act, and biennially
thereafter, the Interagency Committee, through the
chairperson, shall submit to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee
on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on
Resources of the House of Representatives a report that
evaluates United States and international progress in meeting
the purpose of this Act. The report shall include--
(A) the status of implementation of any recommendations and
strategies of the Interagency Committee and analysis of their
effectiveness;
(B) a summary of the marine debris inventory to be
maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration;
(C) a review of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration program authorized by section 3, including
projects funded and accomplishments relating to reduction and
prevention of marine debris;
(D) a review of Coast Guard programs and accomplishments
relating to marine debris removal, including enforcement and
compliance with MARPOL requirements; and
(E) estimated Federal and non-Federal funding provided for
marine debris and recommendations for priority funding needs.
SEC. 6. FEDERAL INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE.
The Administrator, in coordination with the Interagency
Committee, shall--
(1) maintain a Federal information clearinghouse on marine
debris that will be available to researchers and other
interested persons to improve marine debris source
identification, data sharing, and monitoring efforts through
collaborative research and open sharing of data; and
(2) take the necessary steps to ensure the confidentiality
of such information (especially proprietary information), for
any information required by the Administrator to be submitted
by the fishing industry under this section.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
(2) Interagency committee.--The term ``Interagency
Committee'' means the Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating
Committee established under section 2203 of the Marine
Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act of 1987 (33 U.S.C.
1914).
(3) United states exclusive economic zone.--The term
``United States exclusive economic zone'' means the zone
established by Presidential Proclamation Numbered 5030, dated
March 10, 1983, including the ocean waters of the areas
referred to as ``eastern special areas'' in article 3(1) of
the Agreement between the United States of America and the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Maritime Boundary,
signed June 1, 1990.
(4) MARPOL; annex v; convention.--The terms ``MARPOL'',
``Annex V'', and ``Convention'' have the meaning given those
terms under section 2(a) of the Act to Prevent Pollution from
Ships (33 U.S.C. 1901(a)).
(5) Navigable waters.--The term ``navigable waters'' means
waters of the United States, including the territorial sea.
(6) Territorial sea.--The term ``territorial sea'' means
the waters of the United States referred to in Presidential
Proclamation No. 5928, dated December 27, 1988.
(7) Program.--The term ``Program'' means the Marine Debris
Prevention and Removal Program established under section 3.
(8) State.--The term ``State'' means--
(A) any State of the United States that is impacted by
marine debris within its seaward or Great Lakes boundaries;
(B) the District of Columbia;
(C) American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands,
Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands; and
(D) any other territory or possession of the United States,
or separate sovereign in free association with the United
States, that is impacted by marine debris within its seaward
boundaries.
SEC. 8. RELATIONSHIP TO OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LANDS ACT.
Nothing in this Act supersedes, or limits the authority of
the Secretary of the Interior under, the Outer Continental
Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.).
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated for each fiscal
year 2006 through 2010--
(1) to the Administrator for carrying out sections 3 and 6,
$10,000,000, of which no more than 10 percent may be for
administrative costs; and
(2) to the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast
Guard is operating, for the use of the Commandant of the
Coast Guard in carrying out section 4, $2,000,000, of which
no more than 10 percent may be used for administrative costs.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Gilchrest) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner)
each will control 20 minutes.
[[Page H7634]]
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Maryland.
General Leave
Mr. GILCHREST. 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 S. 362.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Maryland?
There was no objection.
Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, S. 362, the Marine Debris Research, Prevention and
Reduction Act, was introduced by Senator Inouye of Hawaii and was
passed by unanimous consent in the Senate in July last year.
The bill would enhance the Federal Government's capabilities to
remove and prevent the creation of marine debris that is derived from
ocean-based activities. Marine debris degrades very slowly, is highly
buoyant and can be carried thousands of miles by ocean currents. Marine
debris poses significant entanglement threats to many marine organisms,
including fish, crabs, birds and marine mammals and can have serious
consequences on human health.
The bill would require the establishment of a Marine Debris
Prevention and Removal Program with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration to coordinate that agency's existing
activities and requirements to reduce the impact of marine debris on
the environment and navigation safety.
The bill also would require the Coast Guard to implement measures to
improve compliance and enforcement of laws and international agreements
regarding the discard of plastics and garbage from vessels.
The bill also amends current law to reactivate the Interagency Marine
Debris Coordinating Committee, rather than establish a new interagency
forum, as was proposed in the Senate-passed bill.
The bill before us today is the result of extensive consultation
between the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the
Committee on Resources. The bill has strong bipartisan support, and I
expect the Senate to act quickly to send this legislation to the
President.
S. 362 will significantly improve the Federal Government's programs
to prevent and remove marine debris without creating unnecessary,
duplicative programs.
I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the great
defender of our Nation's coastlines.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from California for
those very nice remarks.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 362, legislation that will
address the serious and overlooked problem of marine debris along our
Nation's shores and beaches.
Marine debris remains a huge issue in my home State of New Jersey. It
was not too long ago that the New York Bight, a 19,000-square-mile area
off the coast of New Jersey and New York, was known infamously as the
``ocean dumping capital of the world.''
It has taken years of work to clean up our oceans and our beaches,
and S. 362 will help ensure that we never go back to where we were.
I applaud my colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee, especially the chairman, Don Young, and the ranking member,
Jim Oberstar, and Resources Committee chairman, Richard Pombo, and the
ranking member, Nick Rahall, for their support in clearing this
important legislation for the floor. And I also thank my colleague from
San Diego and my colleague, the chairman of our Subcommittee on
Resources from Maryland, for helping clear this important legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I introduced the House companion version of this bill,
H.R. 3692, not only because marine debris is bad for human health and
the environment but also because it can be incredibly harmful to our
tourism economy in New Jersey and across the country.
By building on the recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Ocean
Policy, S. 362 will provide additional coordination to prevent and
reduce marine debris through the establishment of an interagency
coordinating committee. The bill will also strengthen and enhance
specific program activities carried out by NOAA and the U.S. Coast
Guard.
This legislation will provide additional grant resources to reduce
the volume of marine debris, track the origination and subsequent
dispersal of this trash, and stimulate new education strategies to
build public awareness of the problem. Marine debris is an issue that
we ignore at our own peril, and I urge adoption of this legislation to
finally establish an effective and coordinated Federal response to the
problem.
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I think everything has been said, and I urge
support for the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 362, the Marine
Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act.
America's beaches are littered with garbage washed ashore. At a time
when more and more people are enjoying being outdoors, we're finding
more debris on our coasts that can pose a serious threat to beachgoers,
boaters, and divers.
Congress has already passed many laws that attempt to address this
issue including the Clean Water Act, the Act to Prevent Pollution from
Ships, the Ocean Dumping Act, the Driftnet Impact Monitoring,
Assessment, and Control Act, and the Marine Plastic Pollution Research
and Control Act. Yet the problem persists.
S. 362 attempts to address these issues by having the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) undertake various
initiatives to reduce and prevent the use and adverse impact of debris
on the marine environment including--
Assessing the impact of marine debris found in the navigable waters
of the United States and our 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone.
Mapping and removing marine debris from our coastal waters.
Requiring measures to prevent the loss of fishing gear that can kill
fish and marine mammals for years after they are lost from a ship.
Establishing outreach and education programs to help those that live
on and along our waters to understand the impact of marine debris on
our environment.
Under this legislation, the Coast Guard is required to enforce
existing laws and treaties related to marine pollution and to develop
new regulations on the disposal of plastics and fishing gear.
Plastic and other materials that are not biodegradable threaten the
health of our oceans. Therefore, we must find a way to make sure they
don't get into the water in the first place. As someone who represents
a coastal district, I look forward to the day when I can walk down the
beach without seeing it polluted by marine debris that has washed
ashore.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Young, Chairman LoBiondo
and Ranking Member Oberstar for the bipartisan approach that they took
to develop this legislation. This legislation is another step forward
in protecting the world's oceans from marine debris.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues on the
other side of the aisle, especially the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Pallone) for his work on this issue.
To use another term, marine debris is trash and garbage which is
massively discharged into our oceans. Some of it is degraded within a
few days, others will last for hundreds if not thousands of years.
As Mr. Pallone mentioned, the Ocean Commission dedicates an entire
chapter to the problems of marine debris. This legislation, with the
help of the staff on the Transportation Committee and the Resources
Committee, will go a long way to solve this problem.
Mr. Speaker, I urge an ``aye'' vote on the legislation.
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 362,
the Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act. This bill
has been developed in a very bipartisan manner.
The purpose of this legislation is to help fill in the gaps between
existing maritime pollution laws such as the Act to Prevent Pollution
from Ships. Our oceans are becoming the garbage pit for the world. Each
year, tons of marine debris, such as plastics and garbage from vessels,
is discarded into the oceans. It's killing the animals in our oceans
and with it the oceans themselves.
The coastlines of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean are
littered with debris that washes up including massive fishing nets that
are lost each year.
[[Page H7635]]
S. 362, introduced by Senator Inouye, will help address these
problems. This legislation requires the Administrator of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to map debris fields, to assess
the impact of this debris on the living marine resources and
navigational safety, and to develop strategies to prevent and remove
marine debris from the navigable waters of the United States and our
200-mile exclusive economic zone.
S. 362 also requires the Commandant of the Coast Guard to take
actions to reduce violations of and improve implementation of MARPOL
Annex V and the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. Under the bill,
the Coast Guard will also have to develop and implement a plan to
improve ship-board waste management and to make sure that U.S. ports
and terminals maintain and monitor the adequacy of receptacles for the
disposal of plastics and other garbage that are brought into our ports
each year on ships.
The oceans are our lifelines. We cannot let human activity kill them.
S. 362 will help to prevent thousands of tons of debris from entering
the ocean each year from vessels.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting S. 362, the Marine
Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act.
Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 362, the Marine
Debris Research, Prevention and Reduction Act.
S. 362 is an important piece of environmental legislation. People in
the U.S. and world-wide generate a lot of trash. While every effort is
made to ensure the trash is sent to the appropriate place, improperly
used trash receptacles, storm runoff, and outright littering send trash
into rivers and oceans daily. All of this loose trash becomes marine
debris. In return this marine debris has become a pervasive threat in
our world's oceans adversely harming marine animals and their habitat.
S. 362 follows up on recommendations made by the U.S. Commission on
Ocean Policy which called for action to reduce marine debris. Most
importantly it would help identify, determine sources of, assess,
reduce, and prevent marine debris and its adverse impacts on the marine
environment and navigation safety. It would re-establish the
Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee to help ensure a
coordinated government response across Federal agencies. In addition,
it would also develop a Federal information clearing house to enable
researchers to study the sources, scale and impact of marine debris
more efficiently.
S. 362 is an important step in reducing, and hopefully some day
eliminating, marine debris from our ocean environment. S. 362 is a good
bill and should receive the support of Members and pass the House
today.
Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Gilchrest) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 362, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate bill, as amended, was
passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________