[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 184 (Thursday, December 17, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8737-S8738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 4188

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4188, the Coast Guard 
reauthorization, which was received from the House; I further ask that 
the Thune substitute amendment be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, 
be read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, if I might, let me briefly explain the 
basis for my objection. I have had the opportunity to discuss this 
matter with my colleague from the State of Alaska.
  The cruise industry foreign-flags its vessels and thus pays no U.S. 
income tax, yet it has asked for protections in this bill from remedies 
sought by seamen for failing to pay wage and overtime, for remedies for 
maintenance and cure, one of the oldest, internationally recognized 
remedies for seafarers. These two remedies would keep the U.S. Merchant 
Marine competitive. U.S.-flagged vessels are required to hire U.S. 
seamen, and only by ensuring that workers on U.S. vessels and foreign-
flagged vessels, which sail in and out of U.S. ports carrying U.S. 
passengers, have the same remedies can U.S. jobs be protected.
  I have had the opportunity to discuss this issue with the Senator 
from Alaska, and it is my hope that we can work diligently together to 
address and clear issues of concern to myself and a number of my 
colleagues. But until we have that opportunity to review the text and 
to appropriately resolve concerns that arise from the Jones Act and the 
longstanding workers compensation-type benefit I described called 
maintenance and cure, my objection will continue.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I want to talk about the broader issue 
here. I appreciate the willingness of my colleague from Delaware to 
work on this important issue. The Coast Guard reauthorization bill 
passed out of the commerce committee unanimously in April.
  We talk a lot about national security here on the Senate floor. We 
talk about our men and women in uniform and how they are protecting us. 
But I have always liked to mention the men and women in the Coast 
Guard. Prior to 9/11, you can make a very strong argument that the 
Coast Guard was probably the only uniformed service whose members were 
risking their lives for Americans day in and day out every single day. 
I think a lot of their heroism goes unnoticed. Trust me, in Alaska we 
see it daily.
  The Coast Guard admirably performs a variety of missions on a daily 
basis throughout our great Nation with a team of fewer than 90,000 
members comprised of Active-Duty, Reserve, civilian, and Volunteer 
forces and an annual budget of less than $10 billion, with, let's face 
it, a fleet of aging vessels and aircraft.
  The ranking member of the commerce committee, Senator Nelson from 
Florida, and I talk a lot about how heroic these men and women are and 
how they deserve our attention, just like other members of the 
military.
  Last year the Coast Guard executed more than 17,500 search and rescue 
missions--these are incredibly dangerous, by the way--in rough waters 
off the coast of Alaska and Florida and Delaware and saved over 3,400 
lives. Think about that--3,400 lives in 1 year. In addition, last year 
the Coast Guard law enforcement crews interdicted over 140 metric tons 
of narcotics, detained over 300 smugglers, and interdicted more than 
3,500 migrants.
  What we are talking about here is bipartisan legislation that needs 
to be passed that will do one very important thing for our country and 
the Coast Guard: It is going to improve the mission readiness and 
performance of the Coast Guard. It demonstrates that the Congress of 
the United States is paying attention to these brave young men and 
women.
  I am disappointed because we have worked hard to move this 
legislation since April. We have worked hard. We stripped out 
provisions that the other side had problems with. Section 605 is gone 
now, to move this forward. So we have been working hard. I thought we 
were going to pass this legislation this morning.
  The provision my colleague from Delaware was talking about is section 
606 of the Coast Guard Authorization Act, and it is simply looking to 
create consistency and reduce forum shopping in lawsuits involving 
mariners.
  While I understand that some special interests--trial lawyers in 
particular--are not always interested in judicial consistency or 
efficiency because it is not in the interest of their bottom line, I 
wish to remind this body that the provision we are talking about passed 
overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives in a bipartisan manner--
not once, not twice, but three times in the past 2 years. Three times. 
It is not a controversial provision.
  Section 606 is about forum shopping for foreign mariners. In fact, 
section 606 is not even about Americans; it is about forum shopping for 
foreign mariners in foreign waters on foreign-flagged ships. That is 
the issue which is holding up the reauthorization of the Coast Guard 
bill for our brave men and women who serve in the Coast Guard. Why that 
provision should be holding us up is beyond me.
  But I did have a good discussion with my colleague from Delaware. We 
are more than willing to continue to work with our colleagues to reach 
consensus.

[[Page S8738]]

But I certainly hope we can get there today and not let one small 
provision that is very focused on one special interest group hold up a 
bipartisan bill which everybody on the commerce committee voted for and 
which is going to do something very important: recognize the men and 
women in the Coast Guard who risk their lives--just like everybody else 
in the military--on a daily basis to protect Americans.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The assistant Democratic leader.

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