[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 22, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H4580-H4581]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL MARITIME DAY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to take a
few minutes here on the floor to discuss, really, something that
follows along from the last couple of hours where we have been
discussing national defense issues.
The $708 billion that is going to be spent in the National Defense
Authorization Act by the Department of Defense is extremely important,
and there are many parts of that National Defense Authorization Act
that are worthy of discussion.
One thing that was not discussed here on the floor but was taken up
in committee over the last several hearings was the ability of the
military to actually be able to deliver materiel, supplies, in the case
of a major conflict. Do we have the ability to deliver the follow-on
equipment necessary should a major conflict break out somewhere in the
world?
The answer is, no, we don't. And the reason is that the American
maritime industry has dwindled over the last several decades.
In the 1980s, we had about 240 American-built and American flagships
with mariners, captains, engineers and seamen and -women on those ships
capable of providing the necessary support for the military sealift
command. Today, we have about 80 American-flagged ships with American
seamen on those ships.
{time} 2000
The mariners are in short supply. TRANSCOM, responsible for moving
the personnel as well as the equipment that the military needs
somewhere in the world, estimates--as well as the MARAD indicate that
we are some 1,800 mariners short of the minimum necessary to man and
personnel the ships to move the equipment somewhere in the world.
This is a major national defense issue not really taken up and
discussed in the NDAA.
So what are we going to do about it? Can our shipyards actually
produce the necessary ships for the American military? The answer is:
not now, but they need to.
In the National Defense Authorization Act, there is a section that
calls for the construction of the ships--actually, construction by
foreign shipyards.
It seems strange that we would find what was once one of the great
maritime nations, the United States, in such a quandary that we do not
have the personnel or the ships to be able to move our national
defense.
There is something we can do about this, and it is not directly in
the area of the Department of Defense, although it is tangential and,
therefore, important to our national defense.
It seems that over the last decade we have become an energy-producing
Nation. With the fracking and other techniques, we are now actually an
exporter of oil and natural gas. This is part of the energy revolution
that is taking place in the United States.
That oil and natural gas is a strategic national asset, as is the
United States Department of Defense--the Navy, the Army, the Air Force,
the Marines, and the Coast Guard.
If we are to maintain our ability to defend this Nation and to
conduct military operations anywhere in the world, we have to have a
strong maritime industry.
If we consider for a moment the combination of that strategic
necessity of the maritime industry, the strategic benefit that comes
from the production of natural gas and oil, and the economic value of
exporting natural gas and oil, we can come to what we call a solution.
The solution is to take a very small percentage of the production or
the export of natural gas, LNG, and oil and require that it be
exported, transported, on American-built ships, American flagged, with
American mariners.
We call this the Energizing American Shipbuilding Act. It was
introduced yesterday, and we announced it in a press conference earlier
today.
Joining me at that press conference was Senator Roger Wicker, who
will be carrying the bill on the Senate side; the chairman of the
Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation of the House
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Duncan Hunter; a member
of the Committee on Armed Services, Donald Norcross; and a member of
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on
Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, Alan Lowenthal; together with
members of the industry: the Shipbuilders Council, VT Halter Marine out
of Mississippi, the representatives of the maritime unions that work on
the ships and unions that work in the shipyards.
We are prepared to move this bill. Let me tell you what it will do if
we are successful in passing the Energizing American Shipbuilding Act.
What we will do and what America will do is build ships once again.
It is anticipated that, if we start with 1 percent of the LNG that is
exported, over the next 15 to 20 years we will build some 23 LNG ships.
If we ramp that up to a full 15 percent, we will be building those LNG
carriers.
Similarly, if we begin at a very small percentage of the oil that is
exported, we will build another 30 LNG tankers.
In the course of some 15 to 20 years, we will be able to build some
50 ships in American shipyards, providing thousands of jobs not only in
the shipyards but in the supply of engines, pumps, pipes, electronic
equipment, and fittings of all kinds.
And, of course, the steel industry that would be providing the steel
for
[[Page H4581]]
these ships would also be playing a major part.
Now, do keep in mind that this is a very, very small part of the
total number of LNG vessels that are going to be needed. It is
anticipated that just to supply the necessary transport for American
LNG some 225 LNG vessels would be built. We would be looking at a very
small percentage of those that would be built here in the United
States. Nonetheless, that would represent a major part and a major
opportunity for the American shipbuilding industry.
Similarly, for the export of oil, that would similarly build ships
here throughout the shipyards of the United States. Exactly how many?
Well, we will have to figure that out as it goes on. If we really ramp
up the amount of oil and natural gas that we export, perhaps we will
build more than 50.
But it also means that the mariners will be able to work on these
ships. As they work on these particular ships, the LNG and the oil
tankers will be developing the skills necessary to transfer over to
provide the personnel necessary for the military on the cargo ships,
the roll-on and roll-offs, as well as the oil tankers that the military
will need as it transports the personnel and the equipment around the
world.
So this is what we are trying to do. We are trying to energize the
American shipbuilding industry by requiring that a small percentage of
the LNG that will be exported from the United States and the oil that
will be exported will be on American-built ships with American
mariners. That is our goal.
I believe that we will be able to accomplish this in the days ahead,
as we move this thing through the process and get it under way. We have
very strong, bipartisan support, both Democrats and Republicans
supporting the bill.
We also have very strong bicameral support, with the bill being
introduced in the Senate by Senator Roger Wicker and here in the House
by myself and by Chairman Duncan Hunter.
So I bring this to the attention of the Congress and the American
public, that it is our goal to make it in America, that there is a
better deal for America if we pass a law that requires that this
strategic national asset, oil and natural gas, be on an equally
strategic important asset, American ships, and that those ships be
manned by American sailors and officers. That is our goal.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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