[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 180 (Wednesday, November 14, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6942-S6943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Coast Guard Reauthorization Bill

  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I come to the floor this afternoon to 
speak about the Coast Guard reauthorization legislation that just 
passed the Senate today. I thank my colleagues for all of their hard 
work on this important measure that literally has taken years to piece 
together. I thank Chairman Thune and Ranking Member Nelson for working 
on this legislation and for incorporating many of the things that the 
people of Washington were interested in seeing as part of this 
comprehensive bill. I certainly want to thank Senator Carper and the 
EPW staff for working on major provisions of this bill relating to 
ballast water and the solutions they put forward. This bill includes 
many provisions important to our Coast Guard, our environment, and to 
our shipbuilding community. It represents a true bipartisan effort to 
find solutions and to put those solutions into action.
  Our State of Washington is rich in its maritime heritage. The Coast 
Guard is a large part of that. With so much coastline, and so many 
rivers and streams, the Coast Guard is so important. Our State is home 
to fishermen, shipbuilders, Tribes, trade operators, and a thriving 
tourism economy. So for places from Cape Disappointment and

[[Page S6943]]

Grays Harbor to Neah Bay and all the way up the Columbia River, our 
Washington State Coast Guard works tirelessly to protect the Northwest 
and our environment.
  In our State, there are more than 2,000 Active-Duty coasties, 440 
reservists, 192 civilian employees, and an impressive 869 volunteer 
auxiliary members in the Coast Guard.
  The Coast Guard plays an important role in the safety and oversight 
of our fisheries. Thousands of Pacific Northwest fishermen call 
Washington State home, and over 35,000 Washington State jobs are 
supported by the Alaska fisheries.
  While we usually talk about big assets here on the floor, like 
icebreakers and national security cutters, Washington State is also 
home to heavy surf stations that serve in some of the most extreme 
conditions that people have to operate under.
  This bipartisan Coast Guard legislation has many provisions that I 
would like to talk about this afternoon. I want to again thank my 
colleagues for their great bipartisan work on this legislation.
  This legislation has many different solutions for many of the 
challenges our agencies face. I want to again thank Senator Thune for 
working across the aisle on the various Coast Guard provisions that are 
included in this bill, and I want to thank Senator Sullivan for helping 
to cosponsor the authorization of the recapitalization of the Coast 
Guard heavy polar icebreaker, the Polar Star. The Polar Star is home-
ported in Seattle and is our only operational heavy icebreaker, crucial 
for Arctic operations.
  The language that we just passed improves the oversight of ships that 
pose an oil spill risk in Puget Sound. This is so important for us 
moving forward to have these types of assets in these critical waters.
  This bill also includes language to strengthen the Coast Guard's 
family leave policies, as they moved forward to meet other branches in 
adding paid family leave. The legislation included language that helps 
to improve the flexibility of that paid family leave for various parts 
of our State that are most hard to serve.
  The Coast Guard families should not be forced to choose between 
serving their country and supporting their families, and I so 
appreciate the incorporation of this language into this legislation.
  This bipartisan deal also helps to protect good shipbuilding jobs at 
Dakota Creek Shipyard. I am a very strong supporter of the Jones Act, 
and I believe it is important that we continue to have the Jones Act in 
the future. I am proud that we were able to work together to find a 
solution to save good jobs at the Dakota Creek Shipyard, and I 
appreciate my colleagues working on the incorporation of that language.
  This legislation also included a critical compromise to address the 
threat of invasive species and the threat they pose to our waterways in 
many different parts of the United States. We worked hard on this 
solution, consulting with the State of Washington, and believe that 
this version, which does create regulatory certainty for maritime 
operators but does so while still protecting our environment, is 
critical.
  The bill allows the State of Washington, which has a strong history 
of protecting our waters from invasive species, to modify the west 
coast ballast water management practices, which is very important for 
us to protect our waterways for the future. It requires that the most 
rigorous scientific standards are used--including the Clean Water Act's 
best available technology standard so important to us in the Northwest. 
The bill also creates tools for emergency response to invasive species 
so they can be stopped before they take a stronghold in our 
environment. Lastly, it includes a permanent fishing vessel exemption 
for incidental discharges which do not pose a threat to our 
environment.

  All of these things were part of a very comprehensive Coast Guard 
bill that tried to give us the best tools possible to continue to 
operate in our coastal areas of the United States, to have the right 
resources, to have the right oversight, to have the right assets, and 
the right protection of our environment.
  Again, I thank our colleagues on both sides of the aisle for working 
so diligently to finally get this legislation over the threshold and on 
to the President's desk.
  The Coast Guard represents such an important maritime piece of our 
economy. I hope our colleagues will realize we need to give the Coast 
Guard the resources and assets to do their jobs, not just now in this 
legislation but moving forward as well.
  I also want to thank our Coast Guard fellow, Lieutenant Commander 
Michelle Rosenberg, for her time working on this comprehensive 
legislation for the last several years.
  I, again, thank my colleagues.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. TOOMEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gardner). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.