[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 180 (Wednesday, November 14, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6937-S6938]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    COAST GUARD REAUTHORIZATION BILL

  Mr. WICKER. Madam President, I wish to say a word or two about the 
Coast Guard bill, which is coming up soon. I assure my colleagues that 
when the leader comes to the Chamber to make leadership remarks, I will 
certainly defer to him.
  I cannot tell you how pleased I am that we are finally getting to the 
point of passing a Coast Guard Reauthorization Act. We have worked on 
this for some time--intensely, actually, for 3 years--and I wish to 
commend Senator Sullivan of Alaska and Senator Thune, the chairman of 
the Commerce Committee, for doing such great work on this.
  The Coast Guard reauthorization bill will allow us to let the Coast 
Guard continue to do all of the vital things they do to help the people 
of this Nation. It will allow us to rebuild the fleet, strengthen 
facilities on shore, and refurbish the aircraft of the Coast Guard, all 
while ensuring support for the highly trained 40,000 Active-Duty 
members of the Coast Guard and some 46,000 people who serve in either 
the Reserve, civilian, or auxiliary force of the Coast Guard.
  A lot of Americans really don't have a complete understanding of the 
11 statutory functions of the U.S. Coast Guard. I will not go through 
all of those, except to say that these are vital to the safety and 
security of the United States. I will just mention that in my own State 
of Mississippi, after Hurricane Katrina, one of the first groups to 
come in and respond was the Coast Guard, living up to their motto of 
Semper Paratus--``Always Ready.'' There were an estimated 60,000 people 
who needed to be saved from flooded homes, buildings, and rooftops by 
the Coast Guard, and they did their job. The lifesaving work continued 
in 2017 and in 2018 with historic rescue and recovery efforts for such 
disasters as Irma, Florence, Maria, Michael, and the list goes on and 
on. Simply put, the Coast Guard is there when coastal communities are 
at risk.
  They are also there when it comes to organized crime and drug 
interdiction--another very important aspect of the Coast Guard. Last 
week the Coast Guard made news. The cutter Dauntless returned to 
Pensacola, FL, following a $27 million cocaine bust in the eastern 
Pacific.
  Americans may see the Coast Guard on the news only because of big 
drug busts or in the aftermath of a hurricane, but these men and women 
also are in every corner of the globe, protecting our natural resources 
and our national interests, coordinating search and rescue missions, 
and saving lives--saving lives every day.
  So our hat is off to the Coast Guard, and my hat is off to the 
leaders of this body who have given us an excellent reauthorization 
bill.
  In a single day, we might see the Coast Guard handling some 45 search 
and rescue missions in a single day or saving 10 lives in a single day 
or saving more than $1.2 million in property in a single day or 
ensuring the proper transport of $8.7 billion in goods and commodities.
  As I assured Members when I began these remarks, it is my honor to 
yield to the distinguished majority leader for whatever leadership 
remarks he might want to make.

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