[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.

                          ____________________