[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 17, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2225-S2226]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     COAST GUARD AUTHORIZATION BILL

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I want to speak today to the Coast Guard 
Authorization Act of 2017, of which I am a cosponsor. As chairman of 
the Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Coast Guard, I 
am proud that we were able to bring this important bipartisan 
legislation, which was originally introduced by Senator Sullivan, to 
the floor today for consideration. The bill that we are debating will 
increase our national security, protect our maritime industry, increase 
safety for the boating public, and provide consistency for those who 
depend on the water for their daily work.
  As anyone impacted by the 2017 hurricane season will tell you, the 
Coast Guard plays a vitally important role in our Nation's first 
response efforts. Equally critical is the Coast Guard's role as a 
member of our U.S. military. Coast Guard women and men protect our 
waterways, defend our shores, interdict contraband, arrest human 
traffickers, guarantee the free movement of commerce, and ensure the 
stewardship of our national resources.
  On any given day, the Coast Guard responds to an average of 45 search 
and rescue missions, seizes 1,500 pounds of drugs, interdicts 17 
illegal migrants, conducts 16 security boardings, and facilitates the 
movement of $12.6 billion worth of goods. These professionals do their 
job without seeking recognition or acknowledgement. It often goes 
overlooked that our coastguardsmen are serving across every ocean and 
on every continent, including Antarctica. They serve across the Middle 
East, including in both Iraq and Afghanistan. They help protect our 
Navy's ships, defend against pirates, and ensure our strategic ports 
remain open.
  This legislation provides the Coast Guard the authority to better 
carry out those missions, including defending our critical ballistic 
submarines when they are surfaced and at their most vulnerable. In one 
way or another, the Coast Guard affects every American, even in my home 
State of South Dakota. We may not have a coastline, but the work of the 
Coast Guard helps facilitate the export of agricultural products that 
drive our State's economy. The Coast Guard also provides boating safety 
classes and outreach to tens of thousands of my fellow South Dakotans. 
This outreach saves lives every single day.
  This past year was the deadliest for boaters in the past 5 years, 
with a 12-percent increase in deaths. Many of those deaths could have 
been prevented, and this legislation seeks to make improvements to 
boater safety, such as requiring the use of an engine cutoff switch for 
certain recreational boats. Maybe you have seen the videos of boaters 
falling overboard and their boat continuing in circles and hitting 
them, often seriously injuring or even killing them. This change, 
supported by the recreational boating community, will prevent these 
types of incidents in the future.
  This legislation also provides certainty to our mariners. It 
streamlines regulations, reduces burdens, and clarifies ambiguous rules 
that harm our commerce and our environment. We also reauthorize the 
hydrographic services at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, which are necessary for shoreline mapping and accurate 
nautical charts, and we reauthorize the Federal Maritime Commission.
  Finally, this bill fixes a broken patchwork of regulations that 
prevents efficiency in moving goods along our waterways. The Vessel 
Incidental Discharge Act, or VIDA, is important bipartisan 
legislation--sponsored by Senators Wicker, Casey, and more than 20 
cosponsors from both sides of the aisle--that creates a uniform set of 
rules to protect the environment while providing consistent regulations 
for all ports and waterways.
  You will hear from some of my colleagues that this act reduces 
environmental controls and is being jammed down their throats. This is 
simply not true. We have negotiated in good faith for hundreds of 
hours, over the past few Congresses, to make this a strong piece of 
bipartisan legislation. We need strict, science-based, and achievable 
environmental standards, and that is what this VIDA title will yield.
  The new standards must be based on the best available technology that 
is

[[Page S2226]]

economically achievable and are designed to become more stringent over 
time as technology improves. Setting limits beyond what is achievable 
may make for a good sound bite, but it doesn't actually improve the 
environment. This bill will.
  Like so much of the work we do at the Commerce Committee, Senator 
Nelson and I have worked hard to ensure the bipartisan Coast Guard 
Authorization Act of 2017 can garner strong support on both sides of 
the aisle. The measure meets the operational needs of the Coast Guard, 
allowing the service to continue to do the job that so many of our 
constituents rely on. It reauthorizes the FMC and NOAA's hydrographic 
services. Finally, it provides needed regulatory certainty for 
recreational and commercial vessel operators, while ensuring strong 
environmental protections for our Nation's waterways.
  We are going to have an opportunity to vote on this tomorrow. I urge 
my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the men and women 
of the Coast Guard and to support this bipartisan legislation that has 
been negotiated for weeks, months, and years to bring us to where we 
are today--working to accommodate the concerns of individual Senators 
on both sides of the aisle but finding a balanced bill that should 
attract broad bipartisan support. I hope when that vote comes tomorrow, 
we will be able to see Members on both sides support this legislation 
and the men and women of the Coast Guard, who do so much important work 
for our country.
  I yield the floor.

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