[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 157 (Monday, September 29, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H10618]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING THE HERITAGE OF THE COAST GUARD

  Mr. RAHALL. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the 
Speaker's table House Resolution 1382 and ask for its immediate 
consideration.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from West Virginia?
  There was no objection.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1382

       Whereas the Coast Guard, including its predecessor 
     organizations, has a long and distinguished heritage dating 
     back to the very first Congress in 1789;
       Whereas the Coast Guard is now in its 219th year of 
     protecting the coast, saving life and property, protecting 
     the environment, and ensuring the safety of life and property 
     at sea;
       Whereas the Coast Guard and its predecessor organizations 
     have been responsible for safe navigation since Congress--
       (1) authorized ``the necessary support, maintenance and 
     repairs of all lighthouse, beacons, buoys'', and specifically 
     authorized the construction of the first Federal lighthouse 
     at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, on August 7, 1789; and
       (2) established the Lighthouse Board on October 9, 1852;
       Whereas the Coast Guard and its predecessor organizations 
     have, since September 1, 1789, been responsible for 
     registering (documenting) vessels of the United States;
       Whereas the Coast Guard and its predecessor organizations 
     have protected the coast since Congress authorized the 
     President to build and equip ten revenue cutters, on August 
     4, 1790, which were to be paid for from ``duties on goods, 
     wares and merchandise, imported into the United States, and 
     on the tonnage of ships or vessels'';
       Whereas the Coast Guard and its predecessor organizations 
     have inspected vessels since Congress adopted, on July 7, 
     1838, an Act ``to provide better security of the lives of 
     passengers on board of vessels propelled in whole or in part 
     by steam'', thus beginning the Steamboat Inspection Service;
       Whereas the Coast Guard and its predecessor organizations 
     have conducted lifesaving operations along our coasts since 
     Congress first appropriated funding for life-saving equipment 
     for the use of volunteers on August 14, 1848, the first 
     lifesaving stations were authorized on June 20, 1874, and the 
     Life-Saving Service was established by Act of Congress on 
     June 19, 1878;
       Whereas the Coast Guard and its predecessor organizations 
     have had ``superintendence of all commercial marine and 
     merchant seamen of the United States . . .''; been ``charged 
     with the supervision of the laws relating to the 
     admeasurement of vessels, and the assigning of signal letters 
     thereto, and designating their official number . . .''; and 
     ``annually prepare and publish a list of vessels of the 
     United States . . .'' since Congress established Shipping 
     Commissioners on June 7, 1872, and established the Bureau of 
     Navigation on July 5, 1884;
       Whereas the Revenue Cutter Service and the Life-Saving 
     Service were merged, by Act of Congress signed into law on 
     January 28, 1915, to form the Coast Guard as an agency of the 
     Department of the Treasury;
       Whereas the Lighthouse Service became part of the Coast 
     Guard on July 1, 1939, as part of a government reorganization 
     plan adopted by Congress on April 3, 1939;
       Whereas the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation (a 
     merger of the Steamboat Inspection Service and the Bureau of 
     Navigation) became part of the Coast Guard in another 
     reorganization in July 1946;
       Whereas the Coast Guard was transferred from the Department 
     of the Treasury to the newly established Department of 
     Transportation on April 1, 1967; and
       Whereas the Coast Guard was transferred to the newly 
     established Department of Homeland Security in March 2003: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives recognizes and 
     honors all the men and women of the Coast Guard and its 
     predecessor organizations since August 7, 1789.

  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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