Frank LoBiondo

Mr. LoBIONDO

Mr. LoBIONDO. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the Chair of the full committee, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young). (Mr. YOUNG of Alaska asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LoBIONDO. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to Congresswoman Kelly from New York.

Mr. LoBIONDO. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 5681, as amended.

Mr. LoBIONDO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2006 authorizes nearly $9 billion in funding for the Coast Guard for fiscal year 2007. This authorization includes funding to support each of the Coast Guard's vitally important missions. The men and women of the Coast Guard work hard to carry out the service's missions. Each day, they protect the public and help to ensure the safety and security of our great Nation. They are our Nation's maritime first responders. Consequently, this body must provide these men and women with the assets and resources that they so desperately need. H.R. 5681 will authorize the funding levels required to do just that. For example, the bill authorizes over $1.7 billion for the Coast Guard's integrated Deepwater System, the amount necessary to accelerate the replacement of the Coast Guard's legacy assets from a 25- to 15-year schedule. As the Coast Guard's legacy assets continue to rapidly deteriorate, servicemembers work with the risk that the aircraft or boat they use may fail to operate. This is totally unacceptable. Further, it puts the safety and security of our citizens at risk. We must accelerate the Deepwater Program and make replacement assets available as soon as possible. I strongly urge my colleagues to support the funding levels in this bill. In addition, H.R. 5681 specifically provides that at least $629 million must be used for search and rescue and at least $502 million must be used for marine safety. While homeland security missions require more resources and personnel than ever, the Coast Guard's other traditional missions are no less important than they have been in the past. Therefore, the bill sets a floor for spending in these critical areas. The bill also requires the Coast Guard to report to Congress on how they intend to deal with the nearly 20,000-hour annual readiness gap that has developed in the 110-foot patrol boats. This is something that is very disturbing and troubling and must be addressed. Additionally, the bill includes a provision establishing a civil penalty for individuals who possess personal use quantities of narcotics at maritime facilities or on a vessel. Drug use on vessels can have deadly consequences, and this provision will give the Coast Guard another tool to help keep our waterways safe. I thank Chairman Young and the ranking members, Mr. Oberstar and Mr. Filner, for working with us so closely to develop this bill. I think it takes a balanced approach to meet the Coast Guard's requirements. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LoBIONDO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would like to thank all my colleagues again, thank Mr. Young, Mr. Oberstar, and Mr. Filner on the subcommittee for working so closely for such an excellent product. I would like to remind all of the Members of the sacrifices that the men and women of the Coast Guard make every day on our behalf. Unsung heroes, underrecognized, underappreciated men and women who are putting their lives on the line for our country with extraordinary dedication. This bill will help give them the tools and the equipment necessary for them to carry out their jobs. It is, I guess, somewhat fitting that within a very short period of time all of America will have an opportunity to have a much better understanding of what the Coast Guard does because of a film that is being released, I believe, tomorrow, that will paint an extraordinary picture, realistic picture, of Coast Guard rescue swimmers and the danger that the men and women put themselves in every day on our behalf. So I once again would urge all of my colleagues to please vote ``yes.' Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LoBIONDO

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in support of this minimum- wage package which I think is long overdue. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner. A week ago, not many people would have believed that we could have a vote on minimum wage this quickly. You have only to track the articles about it: did not look possible, maybe sometime into the future. And I want to thank Congressman Steve LaTourette and the 48 or 50 other Republicans that stood along together with me in presenting our case to the Speaker and majority leader for why we should do this. We had a very spirited debate in our conference, and we probably will have a record number of Republicans that will be voting for a minimum-wage package tonight. Some Republicans are not happy about this. If I had my choice, this package would have looked a lot different. But we don't live in the world of the perfect, and we should not sacrifice the good for the perfect. The reality is, this is the minimum-wage vote. This vote actually has a chance of being signed into law. The reality is that probably a straight minimum-wage vote, that I would have preferred, might have been a good political exercise, but it stood no chance of passage in the Senate or a signature by the President. So if we really want to give relief to working men and women who so deserve this change, this 41 percent change, this is the opportunity. The minority has said that the extenders are fine. So we have one part of the package that you will find a problem with. I submit that because Republicans are doing this, you would have found one part of this package to have a problem with no matter what was in it. I would urge all of the Republican Labor Caucus members and, in fact, all of the Republican Conference, and the Democrats, to vote against the motion to recommit that will doom the minimum wage. Passage and vote for the bill sends a clear signal that we can find a combination, that we can find a way to come together. The definition of ``perfect'' is probably different for all 435 of us. But that is not what is at stake tonight. That is not what we are all about, finding the perfect. We are about finding something good. This is a good bill. We should vote for it.

Mr. LoBIONDO

Mr. LoBIONDO. I yield to the gentleman from Alaska.

Mr. LoBIONDO. I thank the gentleman.

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to enter into a colloquy with the chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Chairman Young. Is it the intent of the conference on H.R. 889, the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006, that when the National Marine Fisheries Service issues new processor quota shares under section 417, the regional designation for the shares for both the king and c. opilio crab fisheries shall reflect the processing history of the Blue Dutch during the years leading up to the North Pacific Council's adoption of the crab plan?

Mr. LoBIONDO

Mr. LoBIONDO. I thank the chairman for yielding, and I would like to thank Chairman Young for his ongoing very strong support for the Coast Guard and their maritime missions. H.R. 889, the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act, authorizes nearly $8.7 billion in funding for the Coast Guard in fiscal year 2006. This authorization includes funding to support each of the Coast Guard's important missions, including many that have been highlighted in response to the tragedy that occurred in the gulf region last year. The Coast Guard is a unique entity within the Federal Government, as both a military service and a Federal agency with law enforcement abilities and wide regulatory responsibilities. The men and women of the Coast Guard carry out their missions every day to protect the safety and security of our Nation. Whether the mission involves saving thousands of lives, responding to oil spills, keeping our ports and waterways open, or boarding a suspicious vessel, the men and women of the Coast Guard work tirelessly. However, we cannot allow the commitment that is being shown by the men and women of the Coast Guard to go on without a real commitment by this body to provide the service with the assets and resources necessary to carry out all of these missions that we have asked them to do. H.R. 889 will authorize the funding levels required to do just that. H.R. 889 authorizes $1.6 billion for the Coast Guard's Integrated Deepwater System, a critically important system. Every day our Coast Guard servicemembers must deal with the unfortunate reality that an aircraft or boat they command may lose power, spring a leak, or otherwise fail to operate. This is unacceptable. It puts the safety of our personnel and the success of their mission in real jeopardy. We must accelerate Deepwater to make replacement assets available now. I urge my colleagues to support funding levels in this bill and in the future to make this a reality. H.R. 889 also includes important oil spill response and liability provisions originally included in the Delaware River Protection Act legislation that I introduced, along with Representatives Saxton, Castle, Andrews, and Schwartz, in the wake of the Athos I oil spill in the Delaware River. These provisions represent the first real effort in 15 years to strengthen our Federal oil spill prevention and response system. This bill will provide the Federal Government with the authorities that will enhance our capability to prevent and respond to future oil spills. Once again, I would like to thank Chairman Young for his strong support, Ranking Member Oberstar, as well as subcommittee Ranking Member Filner for working with me to develop a strong bipartisan product. I would also like to thank our dedicated staff on both sides of the aisle for their work: John Rayfield, Eric Nagel, and Liz Megginson on the majority staff, and John Cullather on the minority staff, who did an outstanding job in helping us put this conference report together. The bill takes a balanced approach to providing the resources and authorities necessary to support each of the Coast Guard's many and varied missions. Although the Coast Guard has received a great deal of attention for its port security mission, we must strive to protect the service's unique multi-mission character. We must maintain a Coast Guard with the ability to successfully accomplish each of its vital missions. I would like to urge all my colleagues to support this important bill and continue to support the men and women of the Coast Guard who do such an exceptionally good job for the United States of America.

Mr. LoBIONDO

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the chairman for his hard work in building a coalition to put this bill together, and particularly I rise in strong support of the provisions reauthorizing the vital senior nutrition programs. This legislation, like the Stop Senior Hunger Act that I introduced last year, recognizes how important these programs are and how much they help the elderly, the homebound, the disabled, and the frail across America. The senior nutrition programs and these services play a vital role in helping older Americans lead active, independent, healthy lives and avoid unnecessary institutionalization. The Older Americans Act nutrition programs serve about 250 million congregate and in-home meals to about 6.6 million older adults annually. I have been on some of the deliveries with the volunteers to the Meals on Wheels program. I have had an opportunity to look into the faces of the seniors who are receiving these programs. Very often it is the only contact of the day. It is an extremely cost-effective program, but, more importantly, it is a program that genuinely helps seniors. These meals support quality of life, promote independence, reduce health care costs, decrease nursing home admissions, and help those with long-term illnesses and those who may just need a little short- term assistance after the hospital stay during the time of need. In the words of the Meals on Wheels Association of America, the oldest and largest organization representing senior meal programs, these programs are needed so no senior goes hungry.

Mr. LoBIONDO

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Chairman, for over 60 years we have required U.S. citizens to be in control of operation of our airlines. Make no mistake, the DOT's proposed rule will absolutely reverse this critical policy, allowing operation of our airlines to be controlled by competing and potentially unfriendly foreign interests will undermine our homeland security and result in a loss of U.S. jobs. Mr. Chairman, no critical U.S. infrastructure should ever be under foreign control. Did we not learn anything from the Dubai ports debacle? Doesn't anyone remember the outrage that you shared over Dubai? This is just as big an outrage. The DOT is using executive fiat to implement a very dangerous and absolutely wrong policy. This amendment will ensure Congress determines what is in the best interest of this country, not the bureaucrats of DOT. Remember the explanation we got from the administration on the Dubai ports, that everyone had thoroughly examined it. And then we found out that it hadn't been thoroughly examined. Critical infrastructure must remain in U.S. operational control.

Mr. LoBIONDO

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5449. I would like to thank Congressman LaTourette for his dogged determination in pursuing this issue. Also I thank Congresswoman Kelly and Congressman Costello for their help on this very important issue, and also Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Boehner. H.R. 5449 is a fair way of resolving the contract dispute between the controllers and the FAA. It simply brings both parties back to the table to reach a mutually acceptable solution. I share the concerns regarding the budget shortfall at the FAA and the need to free up funds to modernize our air traffic control system. But I do not think that forcing both parties back to the table to agree to a contract will undermine those goals in any way, shape, or form. When the talks between the parties reached an impasse, the controllers were offering $1.4 billion in cost savings. Let me repeat that: they were offering $1.4 billion in cost savings. I believe that if the parties were to return to the table, consensus would be reached in a very short period of time. Congress should encourage both parties to continue to negotiate and not allow the FAA to unilaterally impose their last offer. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this good piece of legislation.

Mr. LoBIONDO

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to my colleague from New Jersey (Mr. Frelinghuysen). (Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this legislation. I want to thank Mr. King, Mr. Lungren, Mr. Oberstar, Mr. Thompson, all of those involved in helping to make this happen. I think it is a very good step in the right direction. Mr. Chairman, it makes several additions to our Nation's maritime security program that enhances the law that we passed a couple of years ago. I am very pleased that the bill in the manager's amendment includes several provisions that I and Representative Pascrell from New Jersey worked on that will help enhance maritime security. These provisions will amend the law to require American citizens to be in charge of security at each of our ports, require the Coast Guard to reexamine each port terminal security plan when the facility undergoes a change in ownership, and require the periodic reevaluation of security at foreign ports. This will also establish deadlines for the implementation of important maritime security programs that we included in the original bill, including the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program, which the Department has been woefully behind on. It enhances identification credentials for foreign mariners calling on U.S. ports and also a long-range vessel tracking system to improve our awareness of activities. These programs will dramatically enhance our ability to protect our ports, will help the Department, and help the Coast Guard. I want to again thank all of the Members responsible. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Chairman, how much time do we have left on our side?

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Chairman, how much time do we have remaining on our side?

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Miller).

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Chairman, in closing, again, I would like to thank Chairman King for being so open to so many ideas and Congressman Lungren also, to again thank Mr. Oberstar for all of his help and Mr. Young of Alaska for the hard work in putting this together. These are serious issues that we are making great progress on, and there is not a Member in this House that would not like to guarantee the American public that we can completely assure everyone that everything is totally 100 percent safe. It is an impossibility to do that. We are moving forward. This is an extremely good bill. We should move forward with it, and I am asking every Member to please support it.

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the gentleman from Mississippi and assure him that we strongly support the acceleration of the Deepwater Program, but we are very concerned with the way this provision is written. As written, the language would require any new ships, aircraft and communications equipment procured under the Deepwater Program to be used to support the Coast Guard's homeland security mission only. As my colleagues know, the Coast Guard is a multimission service. Their assets need to be multimission. If, in fact, there is a national emergency that is unrelated to homeland security, they need to be able to use their assets for that. I assure my colleagues that when the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure meets to mark up the 2007 Coast Guard authorization bill in a few weeks that I will be offering an amendment, as I have each year since I have been subcommittee chair, to significantly increase the funding for Deepwater. This critical program needs to be accelerated. Current Coast Guard assets are rapidly aging and failing, as has been noted, under intense operation tempos. The Coast Guard is forced to sink more and more funding into obsolete legacy assets. We need to increase funding and get these critically needed new and more capable assets into the hands of our men and women in the Coast Guard as soon as possible, but this provision would tie their hands behind their back. I look forward to working with my colleagues to accelerate Deepwater as the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure moves forward with the 2007 authorization bill, and I look forward to support from all of my colleagues to see Deepwater accelerated.

Mr. LoBIONDO

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend Dr. Anne Harlan on her long and distinguished service to her community and country, and congratulate her on her upcoming retirement as director of the Federal Aviation Administration's William J. Hughes Technical Center in Pomona, N.J. During a career that has spanned more than 20 years, Dr. Harlan has been an unwavering advocate for improving the safety and security of our Nation's skies. Since 1995, she has lead the FAA's Technical Center and oversaw the research and development of new aviation safety and security technology. She has been a tremendous leader for the center, effectively managing and motivating over 1,000 outstanding employees who have given her their complete confidence. She has worked tirelessly to expand the center, while keeping the growing community cohesive and working as a team. Before she came to the Technical Center, she served for 11 years in FAA's New England Region where she held positions in the divisions of Flight Standards, Civil Aviation Security, and Human Resources. Dr. Harlan has also dutifully served as a special assistant to two deputy administrators during her multiple Washington assignments over the years. Dr. Harlan has been willing to share her expertise over the years as she was on the faculty at the prestigious Harvard University Graduate School of Business where she taught in the MBA and doctoral programs. Those students who were fortunate enough to learn from her are certainly better off today having her insight and experiences passed down to them. Throughout her distinguished career in public service, Dr. Harlan devoted herself to safeguarding the country, while preparing us for our future's challenges. I would like to personally congratulate and thank her on behalf of the flying public and all Americans. I hope she enjoys every bit of her retirement, she certainly deserves it.

Mr. LoBIONDO

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding this time, and I thank him for engaging in a colloquy to clarify the intent of this bill regarding our Nation's seaports. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask you if it is the sentiment of the chairman that this bill does not intend to duplicate or supersede existing policies and strategies that have been developed specifically for the maritime domain as part of the Strategy for Maritime Security or the National Maritime Transportation Security Plan, because these strategies provide a comprehensive framework to enhance maritime domain awareness including activities that may affect or threaten our maritime border security.

Mr. LoBIONDO. As the chairman knows, the Coast Guard has been identified as the lead Federal agency with responsibilities over maritime domain awareness. The Coast Guard's efforts to enhance awareness of activities in the maritime domain, in addition to the services role as the lead law enforcement agency in the maritime environment, enhance the Nation's capabilities to maintain security along our maritime borders. The Coast Guard carries out missions every day to interdict illegal immigrants, drugs, and suspect cargo and crew before each reaches the United States. I ask the chairman if it is his intent to continue this House's support of the Coast Guard's efforts to maintain heightened border security and that this act would not hinder these critical Coast Guard missions.

Mr. LoBIONDO. I thank the chairman for clarifying these very critically important issues regarding our maritime homeland security and the Coast Guard.

Mr. LoBIONDO

Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder).