[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 64 (Thursday, April 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2309-S2310]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Coast Guard Authorization Bill

  Mr. President, I want to give a little bit of an update on what has 
been happening on the Senate floor in the last few days because there 
is a lot going on. I think sometimes it is important to explain to 
people watching in the Gallery, people watching on TV, and the people 
watching back home in Alaska what is happening here.
  We had a big vote yesterday. It was a big vote particularly for my 
State but also for the Presiding Officer's State of Louisiana--any 
coastal State. It was a vote on the Coast Guard bill yesterday. It was 
a strong bipartisan vote, but we just missed getting 60 Senators.
  To be perfectly honest, it was a disappointment. It was certainly a 
disappointment to the men and women in the Coast Guard who are serving 
our country all over not only America but the world--exceptional 
service.
  This body was unable to get the authorization bill that sets the 
policies and funding and spending for the Coast Guard. That was sad, in 
my view--a big disappointment. We have principled differences here in 
the Senate, but we have been working hard on this. We have been working 
very hard across the aisle.

  I chair the Subcommittee on the Coast Guard. We tried to make sure we 
had plenty of Senators who would support this, so my team and I worked 
for

[[Page S2310]]

months on accommodating my colleagues' concerns about the bill. In 
certain ways, we pretty much accommodated every request for an 
amendment and every request for fixing the bill. So I really thought we 
were going to get to the point where we had way more than 60 Senators 
to pass this bill for the men and women of the Coast Guard, to make our 
waterway economic opportunities more efficient, and to put more 
maritime workers to work, but at the end of the day, we couldn't get to 
that magic number of 60, which is so critical here in the Senate. It is 
disappointing to say that politics got in the way. There were some 
people who had previously committed to make sure this got over the goal 
line who weren't there at the end. But we will keep working on it. It 
is too important for my State and too important for the country to 
leave the men and women of the Coast Guard and so many other important 
issues that were taken up in that bill not completed. That is what we 
call the legislative calendar--that is legislation on the Senate floor 
we are trying to move, and we will keep working in a bipartisan way 
there.