[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 66 (Thursday, April 24, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H2663-H2666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COAST GUARD AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2008
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 1126 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. 2830.
{time} 1025
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. 2830) to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard for fiscal
year 2008, and for other purposes, with Mr. McNulty in the chair.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the
first time.
General debate shall not exceed 1 hour, with 40 minutes equally
divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and 20 minutes
equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority
member of the Committee on Homeland Security.
The gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) and the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) each will control 20 minutes, and the gentleman
from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson) and the gentleman from California (Mr.
Daniel E. Lungren) each will control 10 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Minnesota.
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I rise in strong support of H.R. 2830, the Coast Guard Authorization
Act that includes critical provisions to strengthen the U.S. Coast
Guard.
It's been since 2004, the last time we actually moved through House
and Senate and conference a Coast Guard authorization bill, not for
lack of effort. In the 109th Congress in 2005 and 2006 the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure, under then Chairman Don Young, a
strong advocate, admirer of and one who embraces the U.S. Coast Guard,
we moved the bill through committee, and we brought it to the House in
2006. Unfortunately, we were not able to reach conference with the
other body, but not for lack of effort.
[[Page H2664]]
And so that bipartisan initiative was rekindled last year as the
committee picked up the pieces and incorporated the work of previous
Congresses and moved forward with a very expansive Coast Guard
authorization bill.
Toward that purpose, I express my deepest appreciation for the
chairmanship of the subcommittee, under Elijah Cummings, the Member
from Baltimore, who has embraced his responsibility and duty and
embraced the Coast Guard and mastered the subject matter. And our
ranking member on that Coast Guard Subcommittee, the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) who, in his ever thoughtful, judicious, thorough
manner, similarly has mastered the subject matter. He is a master of
detail, and has brought many thoughtful recommendations to the
legislation that is before us.
And I thank the gentleman for his splendid cooperation, that of the
ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Mica, who has ceded the floor
responsibilities to Mr. LaTourette. Mr. Mica, representing the State of
Florida, a State that is intimately related with, to, dependent upon,
and grateful to the Coast Guard for its services.
In this bill, we extend, we first of all, increase personnel for the
U.S. Coast Guard. In my first year in Congress, 1975, I served on the
Coast Guard Subcommittee and subsequently, all through to 1995, when
the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, which included Coast
Guard, was dissolved and the responsibilities of the Coast Guard
transferred over to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
where I continued to work on Coast Guard issues.
From 1975, Coast Guard personnel authorization was at 39,000. We
added 27 new functions, new responsibilities, various Congresses,
various presidents over the years, without increasing substantially
Coast Guard personnel. We do that in this legislation. We add 1,500
military personnel.
{time} 1030
We increase the total strength of the Coast Guard to 47,000 to
adequately serve the needs of the clear dual responsibilities of the
Coast Guard, safety, which is search and rescue, and buoy tending and
navigation aids and so on, and the security responsibility in the Coast
Guard in the era of homeland security.
There will be no argument or no, how shall I say, excuse in the
future that the Coast Guard doesn't have sufficient personnel so they
have to be a multi-mission agency. We're going to assure that they have
adequate personnel through this authorization and subsequent funding of
it to carry out all of their civil responsibilities.
We extend benefits to Coast Guard personnel, reimburse them for
medical-related travel for members assigned to remote locations. We
grant access to Armed Forces retirement home systems to the Coast Guard
veterans. We allow Coast Guard in this legislation to provide
authorization for personnel who work in support of a declaration of a
major disaster or emergency issued by the President to retain up to a
total of 90 days of accrued leave compared to only 60 days currently.
We implement the administration's proposal initiated by the Coast
Guard to reorganize the Coast Guard. As they propose in their plan in
this legislation, we provide authorization that eliminates two area
commands established by law and the Coast Guard chief of staff position
and replace those with four vice admirals, deputy commandant for
mission support, deputy commandant for national operations and policy,
the commander for force readiness command and the commander for the
operations command, and we promote, in this legislation, the vice
commandant to full admiral.
The legislation strengthens substantially fishing vessel safety, the
most dangerous occupation in the United States, improving the training,
construction, and enforcement standards for commercial fishing vessels;
double hull around fuel bunker tanks on new construction of U.S.
vessels. Any vessel carrying more than 600 cubic meters of oil will
have double hulls around their fuel tanks to prevent the disastrous
consequences such as the COSCO BUSAN, which Chairman Cummings went out
to hold a hearing on in the San Francisco Bay following the allision
with the Bay Bridge and with the release of 53,000 gallons of heavy
fuel.
Ballast water treatment. We have the first enforcement program since
invasive species were identified as a major problem in the Great Lakes
in the 1970s. We require ships to install ballast water treatment
systems in 2009 to control invasive species into U.S. ports, waterways,
of course in the inland waterways and the Great Lakes. We established a
standard adopted by the International Maritime Organization from 2009
to 2012, but beginning in 2012, the standard will be increased to 100
times greater than the IMO, based on best-available technology.
There are eight provisions dealing with port security that I will
withhold comment on which Chairman Bennie Thompson will speak, and I'm
very grateful for his participation in all of our committee work. I
will also set aside for the moment the Coast Guard Deepwater assets
procurement issue for Chairman Cummings to address. That was a matter
on which he devoted an enormous amount of time.
We remove appearance of conflict by transferring administrative law
judges from the Coast Guard to the National Transportation Safety
Board, as we did years ago, bipartisan initiative in our committee for
pilots. The venue for appeals to the commandant decision to suspend or
revoke a mariner's license, such as a captain's license, for violation
of marine safety laws or acts of professional incompetence will now be
heard by an NTSB administrative law judge but retaining the Coast Guard
authority to decide whether to seek suspension or revocation of a
mariner's license.
In 2007, two former Coast Guard ALJs testified before the
Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation that they were
pressured not to allow a mariner's discovery of information that could
vindicate that mariner.
I think one of our major contributions, perhaps in my mind the most
significant, apart from the Deepwater, which has already passed the
House, is the establishment of new Marine Safety Authority and raising
the quality of personnel and the authority for marine safety within the
Coast Guard, establish marine safety as a function of the Coast Guard.
It is now mentioned in their basic law. But we established marine
safety as a Coast Guard function focused on actions necessary to
protect life, property and the environment at sea.
Created an assistant commandant for marine safety. The chief of
marine safety in each Coast Guard sector; established minimum
qualifications for all marine safety personnel saying that those
persons appointed to marine safety positions, safety inspectors,
casualty inspectors, chief of marine safety, be technically qualified
for those positions that they should have at least the qualifications
that the American Bureau of Shipping has and better than those.
We establish a limited duty officer program in marine safety to allow
commanders or chief warrant officers who have extensive marine safety
experience to have the opportunity to specialize in marine safety.
We require that appeals and waivers of marine safety laws and
regulations be handled by qualified marine inspectors. Those marine
safety regulations now are handled by the chain of command of the Coast
Guard. That means an appeal can be decided by a ship driver, a
helicopter pilot, who has no qualifications in the specific issue at
hand. We need to raise the qualifications, the skills of those
personnel in key positions of the Coast Guard. This bill does that.
And we also require establishment of and funding for a course in
marine safety as part of the curriculum at the U.S. Coast Guard
Academy. I was there in New London at the Coast Guard Academy on
Friday, and a commandant of the academy and a commandant of cadets both
were thrilled with this idea, as were cadets with whom I visited.
And the final point I want to call attention to is the strengthening
of the marine pollution prevention provisions in the act. I will leave
those details to later.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Chairman, at this time it's my privilege to yield
such time as he may consume to the ranking member of the full
committee, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica).
[[Page H2665]]
Mr. MICA. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank our ranking member, Mr.
LaTourette, for yielding time to me, and I am pleased to speak on an
important reauthorization measure, and that's reauthorization of our
Coast Guard. Unfortunately, I'm told that even if we pass this bill
today, and it will not be passed in totality, it still must be
conferenced with the other body, that this authorization is only good
through the end of this fiscal year. And, unfortunately, this
reauthorization has been delayed, and we will find ourselves back at
the beginning gate, starting gate, so to speak. That's one of my
disappointments.
First, though, before I get into my disappointments, let me commend,
first of all, our ranking member, Mr. LaTourette. He's worked
tirelessly as the Republican leader of the Coast Guard Subcommittee to
try to bring this reauthorization legislation together. He's taken some
absolutely terrible proposals that first came out and made them much,
much better, and I commend Mr. LaTourette for his hard work on this and
trying to reach compromise.
I also compliment Mr. Oberstar, my counterpart in the committee,
heads up the Democrat side, our chairman, for his efforts to try to
bring about bipartisan compromise on the legislation. Mr. Cummings, the
chairman of the Coast Guard Subcommittee, has worked with our ranking
member.
So I thank all of them. Their efforts have been good, and I'm going
to cast a vote in favor of this to move the process forward, and I
think that's incumbent in my particular position to try to continue to
make the bill better.
This is a good reauthorization start. I do have two major concerns
that I want to say that I am not pleased with, the administration is
not pleased with, and I think the United States Coast Guard is not
pleased with.
First of all, I have opposition to two provisions. Let me speak about
the first one, and one you heard a lot about, the safety regime that's
created in this bill. Unfortunately, this particular provision, while
it may sound good that the safety is being addressed, it really
destroys the command and control function that is so essential in a
national security agency.
Now the Coast Guard's primary responsibility is one of national
security. It's also safety, but it is first and foremost, a national
security agency. And this regime sets up an unprecedented bureaucracy.
It also destroys the command approach that we have had in our services.
In fact, it would prescribe the duties, qualifications, and set up a
chain of command of senior Coast Guard officials. This represents an
extraordinary intrusion upon the service chiefs' authority to command
and control a branch of the Armed Forces and, ultimately, the ability
of the Secretary and the President to deploy the Coast Guard in an
emergency.
Now this isn't just my evaluation. This is the Coast Guard, this is
the administration, the President's evaluation of what the current
language would do.
Unfortunately again, we still have this provision that needs to be
worked on, and we need to make certain that national security, the
ability to command and control a branch of the armed services is not
damaged.
The second reason that I have concern about this legislation is that
unfortunately, the waterside security provisions here that relate to
liquefied natural gas terminals and liquefied natural gas tankers
requires the Coast Guard to provide security in a manner that is
contrary to the existing assistance framework and also at odds with
assisted risk-management practices.
In simple layman's terms, what's happening is right now when we're
having a difficulty of getting a supply of natural gas, and gas prices
are soaring. People are seeing natural gas prices reach record levels.
We're creating more redtape, more impediments and setting up another
regime in which we will limit the supply and also actually create more
impediments to getting the supply so the cost can go down and the
people who have access to probably one of the best sources of energy
has the least amount of damage of any of the fossil fuels to our
environment.
So those are my two concerns.
But, again, I'm going to support the measure. I'm hoping that through
conference, we can make the bill much better, that we can address the
command regime that's set up here in a new safety bureaucracy, that we
can also make certain that we have a supply of liquefied natural gas,
access to liquefied natural gas and also bring the prices down for the
consumer who's under incredible pressure right now trying to pay bills,
meet the costs of increasing energy.
So those are my concerns.
Again, I want to thank all of the members who've worked on this in
the committee, the ranking member Mr. LaTourette, Mr. Oberstar, and Mr.
Cummings for their efforts.
{time} 1045
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 2 minutes, first to
express my great appreciation for John Cullather, Chief of Staff on the
Coast Guard Subcommittee on the Democratic side, Richard Hiscock,
Lucinda Lessley, Ianta Summers, Christy Rutherford, and on the
Republican staff, John Rayfield and Eric Nagel, with whom we have
worked diligently and consistently and thoroughly and achieved a great
accommodation of use.
Secondly, I don't share the ranking Republican member's pessimistic
outlook for this legislation. The Coast Guard reauthorization has been
reported from committee in the other body. It has been hotlined by the
Democratic leadership in the other body. They anticipate it will clear
those hotline processes shortly and that the other body will be able
to, in due course, in relatively short period of time, consider a Coast
Guard bill on the floor, and that we can, in fact, anticipate
conference with the other body by and before the beginning of summer. I
have a very positive and hopeful outlook.
Third, as for redesigning and restructuring the Coast Guard, the
committee has done that since the 1960s, directing how the structure of
the Coast Guard shall be organized. In fact, we do far less structuring
in this bill following in that tradition than is done for the U.S.
Navy.
Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland, Chair
of the subcommittee, Mr. Cummings.
Mr. CUMMINGS. I want to thank the chairman for yielding.
And as chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime
Transportation, I rise today in strong support of the amendment in the
nature of a substitute to H.R. 2830, the Coast Guard Authorization Act.
I want to thank Chairman Oberstar for his inspired leadership of the
Transportation Committee. I also thank Chairman Thompson for his
leadership on the Homeland Security Committee. Further, I thank my
ranking member of the Transportation Committee, Mr. Mica. And I give
special thanks to Congressman LaTourette for his service as the ranking
member of the Coast Guard Subcommittee. And certainly I thank
Congressman King.
Throughout the 110th Congress, I've led the subcommittee in examining
the many ways in which the Coast Guard, our thin blue line at sea, has
been stretched since 9/11. The amendment in the nature of a substitute
before us today responds directly to the issues we have examined by
ensuring that the Coast Guard has the expertise and resources necessary
to perform all of its missions effectively and efficiently.
The legislation would authorize $8.4 billion for the Coast Guard and
authorize an increase in the total number of military personnel to
47,000.
Our subcommittee has become deeply concerned that the area where the
Coast Guard is becoming thinnest is in marine safety, the function
responsible for protecting lives, property and the environment at sea.
The declines in this program have become shockingly evident when the
Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General found that the
Coast Guard dispatched three individuals who were not qualified to
conduct an investigation to respond to the ship that hit the San
Francisco Bay Bridge and subsequently spilled 54,000 gallons of fuel
into the Bay.
Without taking away any of the resources or the flexibility that the
Coast Guard needs to perform any other mission, including securing our
ports, the amendment in the nature of a substitute requires that
individuals
[[Page H2666]]
who ensure the safety of the maritime industry prepare for these highly
technical jobs by meeting requisite training standards. The bill also
requires that as new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals are
approved, all of the resources necessary to adequately secure these
terminals are in place. I emphasize that these provisions will not
impede the development of any new project. They will simply ensure that
security requirements are met before new terminals become operational.
Further, H.R. 2830 will set new and increasingly stringent standards
for the treatment of ballast water through which invasive species have
been introduced to some of our Nation's most fragile marine
environments, such as the Chesapeake Bay. It will also give mariners
the right to have cases involving the potential suspension or
revocation of their professional credentials heard by the National
Transportation Safety Board's administrative law judge system.
These provisions respond to compelling testimony from former Coast
Guard ALJs indicating that they did not work in an environment that
supported their exercise of judicial independence. Mariners who are
unsafe should not be on our Nation's waterways, but fair treatment must
be assured to all individuals in any legal proceeding. And the transfer
of the Coast Guard's ALJ function to the National Transportation Safety
Board will avoid even the potential appearance of unfairness.
Finally, the amendment takes significant new steps to ensure that our
Nation's ``shield of freedom'' resembles the nation it is defending.
The bill would require applicants to the Coast Guard Academy to be
nominated by Members of Congress or other authorities. This, in
conjunction with expanded minority recruiting efforts, would draw
students from all of our Nation's communities to the academy, beginning
the process that the Commandant himself has said is needed to expand
minorities at all ranks of the more than 6,000-member officer corps
from the current number of 827.
As chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime
Transportation, it is my honor to be an original cosponsor of H.R.
2830, which will set standards that will ensure the Coast Guard
performs at the level it expects of itself while also providing the
resources necessary to enable the service to fulfill all of its
missions.
Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2830, and I'll tell
you why in just a second, but just a couple of editorial notes. One is
that it is my belief that this Coast Guard reauthorization is brought
to the floor in the best traditions of the Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee. And I want to commend the ranking member of
our full committee, Mr. Mica, for his diligence and work, and also for
expressing his remaining concerns.
I also want to express my appreciation to the chairman of our
subcommittee, Mr. Cummings, who I've had the pleasure now of working
with about a year and a half, and I will tell you there is no Member
that is more dedicated to not only the mission of the Coast Guard, but
the safety of those that they entrust with supervising. It is a
pleasure to serve in the post of ranking member with Mr. Cummings as
the chairman.
And, also, a special affection for the chairman of the full
committee. I made the observation at the beginning of this Congress,
and I'll repeat it again today, that obviously, as a Republican, none
of us were excited about being thrust after 12 years from the majority
party to the minority party, but if there was to be a Democratic Chair
of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, there is no
one more deserving, in my opinion, perhaps in the history of the
institution, than the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar). He
really takes our committee, no matter what the issue, above
partisanship to the goals of the Transportation Committee, and that is,
safeguarding our waterways and building America.
And, lastly, while I'm saying nice things about people, I am pleased,
Mr. Chairman, that the Speaker of the House, Mrs. Pelosi, has installed
you as the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole for the consideration
of this piece of legislation.
I rise in strong support of this bill. And I am especially proud of
the ballast water provisions and the marine safety provisions located
within the bill.
This bill will establish national standards requiring the treatment
of ballast water to minimize the introduction of invasive species into
the Great Lakes and other U.S. waters. The bill will build on a lot of
work that has already been done. Those of us that are from the Great
Lakes know very well the importance of this issue.
I am disappointed that we'll have a colloquy later with the chairman
of the full committee relative to an amendment that was offered at the
Rules Committee that would protect millions of recreational boaters
from falling under a discharge permitting program designed for large
oceangoing vessels. In the absence of this language, come September
recreational voters will be facing fines of up to $32,500 a day for
violations of program rules. For more than 30 years, Mr. Chairman, both
recreational and commercial vehicles were exempted from these programs,
and I hope that the majority will join us to develop language
addressing these understandings.
As well, when we get to the amendment portion of the bill, I have an
amendment that I'm offering with Mr. Boustany of Louisiana that
addresses some of the concerns raised by the ranking member, Mr. Mica,
relative to waterside security for liquefied natural gas facilities.
Again, I want to thank the Chair of the subcommittee and the full
committee for working with us. I want to thank Mr. Boustany for his
dogged work to make sure that we come up with a resolution that not
only fits with the reality of assets that are available, builds on a
long tradition that we established in 2005, but also permits us to move
forward with the goal of attaining cheaper energy for Americans through
the form of natural gas.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I thank the Chair very much and would
reserve the balance of my time.
The CHAIRMAN. The Committee will rise informally.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Tauscher) assumed the chair.
____________________