American Offshore Worker Fairness Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6865) to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 6865, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to call up and speak in support of my bill, H.R. 6865, the Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022.

This bipartisan legislation will authorize funding for the United States Coast Guard for fiscal years 2022 and 2023 and address a number of important issues concerning the maritime industry.

I would like to take a moment to express my deepest sympathies to Congressman Don Young's wife, Anne, the rest of the family, and the people of Alaska.

Don was larger than life. He was the dean of the House. He was affable, cantankerous, and sometimes funny.

You know, I have stories like the Speaker mentioned today about Don and the buck knife in his pocket, but I won't go into those now. But, anyway, we developed a good friendship.

I feel fortunate that I had time to develop that relationship with him, serving together on both the House Committee on Natural Resources for 26 years and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for 36 years.

His service as Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee had an extraordinary impact. It was capped by the passage of SAFETEA-LU, a surface transportation reauthorization that was named for his beloved late wife.

It was a strong bipartisan bill that provided much-needed investment infrastructure across the country, including my home State of Oregon.

Don believed in bipartisanship. We didn't always agree, but we would often find a way to compromise, come together for the good of the country, and he always, always stayed true to his values and the people of Alaska.

Given Alaska's vast coastlines, the Coast Guard plays a particularly important role in the State, and Congressman Young was always there to support the United States Coast Guard.

That is why I am particularly happy to include several provisions important to the Congressman that will have a dramatic impact on the State of Alaska and this bill.

At a committee markup earlier this month, Don said, I have voted on 20 Coast Guard authorization bills in my career. I have served on the Coast Guard subcommittee for 46 years. This is a good bill. It is really needed. And it is really needed. And naming it for Don Young is incredibly appropriate.

I would like to thank my ranking member, Sam Graves, and Subcommittee Ranking Member Gibbs for their work. I particularly want to thank the chair of the subcommittee, Congressman Carbajal, for this very important and overdue additional investment in the Coast Guard and addressing a number of other issues relating to the maritime industry. This is evidence that bipartisanship can still live in Washington, D.C. today.

It not only authorizes the Coast Guard but also reauthorizes the Federal Maritime Commission which is the center of the supply chain congestion that has plagued this country and the world for over a year.

It incorporates the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 which will begin to address several unfair shipping practices that have contributed to inflation across every sector of the American economy.

This legislation gives the Federal Maritime Commission the authority to protect exporters, importers, and consumers from unfair practices by expanding their oversight and enforcement capabilities.

The largest three shipping companies in the world made more money in the last year than they made over the last decade. It is not warranted. They are essentially running a cartel, and it is time that we took action.

The Federal Maritime Commission, under this administration, is finally waking up, and they are going to take action against these cartels and the price gouging that is going on on our consumers.

It further amends title 46 to ensure shipping capacity once contracts are signed, increases penalties for retaliation against shippers, and encourages reciprocal trade.

H.R. 6865 increases the Federal Maritime Commission's annual operating budget by 10 percent over 2021. It will give them the additional resources they need to provide effective oversight and ensure that all foreign carriers abide by fair shipping practices which they are not doing today.

For the Coast Guard, this bill provides more than $12 billion for fiscal year 2022, $13 billion for fiscal year 2023. These authorized funding levels support servicemembers, fund new asset acquisitions, and improve the Coast Guard's crumbling shoreside infrastructure.

I am particularly pleased with the improved vessel safety measures included in the legislation, and H.R. 6865 takes a leap forward in small passenger vessel safety by mandating commonsense requirements for passenger amphibious vessels and others.

Chairman Carbajal recently held a hearing on a horrible tragedy in his district which this will also have an impact in preventing in the future.

Moreover, H.R. 6865 offers meaningful reforms to a culture of sexual abuse within the maritime industry. I am proud to have worked with Members from both sides of the aisle to determine what changes are necessary to begin to address the toxic culture in the industry and create a safe work environment for all mariners.

H.R. 6865 includes language from my other bill, the Safer Seas Act, which will give the Coast Guard more leverage to investigate and remove predators who sexually harass and assault. It also includes important safety measures such as surveillance, master key control systems, and extends the statute of limitations for cases of sexual assault and harassment.

This groundbreaking legislation is just one step towards bringing justice for victims and getting predators out of the industry.

In closing, let me thank once again my Ranking Member Sam Graves, Ranking Member Gibbs, and of course, Chair Carbajal for all their extraordinary work on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the chair of the subcommittee, Congressman Carbajal.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi), a senior member of the committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Auchincloss), a member of the committee.

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Keating).

Mr. Speaker, certainly, I would assure both this gentleman and Representative Auchincloss that I will be happy to work with the two of them as the legislation goes to the Senate.

I want to move toward employing qualified American mariners and to have the people who work on these ships meet the same requirements as American mariners.

Flags of convenience have destroyed the U.S. maritime industry. We are going to rebuild it, and we are going to rebuild it with American crews and ships. Dominion Resources is currently building an insertion ship.

I certainly do not want to impede projects in the near term, Vineyard Wind and others that are immediately pending, and we will work to ensure there are no disruptions as we move toward a cleaner energy future.

I would be happy to work with the two gentlemen and others who are concerned.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Malliotakis).

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, it was very fitting the tributes that we heard. We all have stories about Don, and I wish we had more time to share, but his many decades of work will stand as a monument to his life, and this bill, in particular, will honor his extraordinary service on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. I think it was called Public Works when Don first came to serve here.

Madam Speaker, I urge support for this bill. As I mentioned earlier, we are finally recognizing that the Coast Guard has been under resourced for decades. We are beginning to deal with that problem, their shoreside infrastructure, their assets at sea, and in particular, the extraordinary people who serve in the United States Coast Guard.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to have named the bill for Don. I would urge that this bill be unanimously approved by our colleagues, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6865, the Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022, an important piece of legislation that ensures that the United States Coast Guard has the funding that they need to carry out the service's critical mission and keep our borders safe.

Today it is with both great sadness and great respect that we name this year's Coast Guard Authorization Act after former Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young.

The passing of the dean of the House was a surprise to all of us and a tremendous loss for this body. Our thoughts are with his wife, Anne; his daughters, Joni and Dawn; and the rest of his family, as well as his current and his former staff.

I had the pleasure of serving as a freshman member of the Transportation Committee when Don began his chairmanship in 2001. And, as always, he brought his typical passion and zeal to the job.

He was always working for Alaska but also constantly helping other Members take care of their constituents.

The chairman, as many still called him, always pointed out that Alaska missed the great infrastructure investment of the earlier centuries that had been made in the lower 48, and he was bound and determined to make sure that he made up for lost time.

There isn't a city or a borough or a town or village in Alaska that can't point to at least one road, airstrip, harbor, dock, visitors center, or health clinic that Don didn't have some role in establishing, building, authorizing, or funding.

Recently, there has been a suggestion to name a volcano in Alaska after Chairman Young, a rugged and enduring part of the Alaskan landscape, always with the potential to erupt at any moment's notice, but always warm at its core. Part of me thinks this would be a very fitting tribute as well.

And as has been noted many times, it was fitting that he passed away on his way home to Alaska, the State that he loved so much.

I will always think of him and smile when I walk by his official-- unofficial, I should say, unofficial but uncontested seat here on the House floor. His passing was truly a loss for the House.

In the Transportation Committee, we will always have the almost life- sized portrait watching over us, reminding Members of the importance of the work and the bipartisanship it takes to get it done.

One of Don's priorities throughout his career, and also one of my priorities, was strengthening the Coast Guard. This legislation authorizes the purchase of a 12th National Security Cutter as well as six additional Fast Response Cutters to ensure that our Coast Guard is prepared for its current and future role in securing America.

During our markup of this bill earlier this month, Don remarked in his statement that both his support for this bill, and as the chairman pointed out, he had voted on 20 Coast Guard authorizations in his career, and I am deeply saddened today that he is not going to be able to cast his vote in support of yet one more.

Fittingly, H.R. 6865 also includes a provision offered by the late dean of the House that allows the Coast Guard to keep Russian vessels out of U.S. waters during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this important legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Gibbs), the ranking member of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Graves), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Aviation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Rouzer), the ranking member of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Burchett).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), the Republican whip.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Crawford).

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul).

Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 5 seconds.

Madam Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining.

Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa).

Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Balderson).

Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Van Drew).

Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Guest).

Madam Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining?

Madam Speaker, this is obviously a fitting tribute, but we ran out of time. A lot of people wanted to say something about Don, and I apologize that we ran out of time.

Madam Speaker, I close by thanking the chairman of both the committee and the subcommittee and the ranking member, for putting this bill together. It is very much a bipartisan effort. But I particularly want to thank the staffs on both sides of the aisle for the work that they did, and in particular, John Rayfield, who had the opportunity to work with Chairman Young when he was chairman of the committee as well.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this very important piece of legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise to speak in support of H.R. 6865, the Don Young Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2022.

I'd like to first acknowledge the sudden passing of Don Young, the Dean of the House, and the former Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. I extend my condolences to his wife and family, and also to his staff. I had the pleasure of working with him on the Carson/Young bill, to create the National Center for the Advancement of Aviation, which is a bipartisan and a bicameral bill to improve aviation, which is so important to both of our states, Alaska and Indiana. It's only fitting that today's Coast Guard bill is now named in Congressman Young's memory.

Chairman DeFazio, I commend your leadership, and your collaboration on this Coast Guard bill, with Ranking Member Graves, Coast Guard Subcommittee Chair Carbajal and Ranking Member Gibbs. I am pleased to join our committee colleagues in supporting the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act because it will increase maritime safety and efficiency.

Chairman DeFazio, I am especially grateful to you for working with me over several years to develop the language that will finally address the persistent problems with unsafe vessels, and including my Duck Boat Safety Improvement Act in today's Coast Guard Reauthorization.

My Duck Boat Safety requirements, in Title III, Section 305, will finally implement safety regulations for amphibious passenger vessels, particularly those known as Duck Boats. These safety recommendations were made by federal agencies to address repeated problems associated with Duck Boats that have resulted in many injuries and fatalities that may have been prevented.

I became much more aware of these problems when my constituents in Indianapolis, the Coleman family, were involved in a horrible Duck Boat accident on July 19, 2018 in Branson, Missouri. Tia Coleman was one of only two survivors from her family of 11, losing her husband Glenn and her children Reece (nine years old), Evan (seven years old), and Arya (one year old). Tia's 13-year-old nephew, Donovan, was the other surviving family member, losing his mother Angela, his younger brother Maxwell (two years old), his uncles Ervin (76 years old) and Butch (70 years old), and his aunt Belinda (69 years old). Boarding a Duck Boat on Table Rock Lake started out as a fun outing for family members, but it turned into an unspeakable tragedy when the boat capsized and sank. Seventeen of the 31 passengers on board were killed.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and U.S. Coast Guard have separately investigated the incident and the last few aspects of the investigation should be completed soon.

But Congress should not wait to act. We know from past incidents that more can and should be done to make these vessels safer. Since 1999, more than 40 people have died in Duck Boats accidents, the vast majority of them from drowning when the vessel sinks. The NTSB in 2002 issued recommendations to improve the safety of these vessels in flooding or sinking situations but little has been done to implement those measures.

Duck Boats are hybrid vehicles that can travel on roadways and waterways, so the safety measures must be updated for both land and waterborne operations.

The Duck Boat Safety Improvement Act will require vessel operators to implement common-sense boating safety measures, including:

Improving reserve buoyancy and watertight compartmentalization to prevent sinking,

Requiring more monitoring and adherence to severe weather alerts and warnings,

Requiring release of road safety seatbelts when Duck Boats become waterborne,

Requiring stronger crew safety training and certification,

Removing or reconfigure canopies and window coverings for waterborne operations,

Requiring personal flotation devices for waterborne operations,

Requiring installation of better bilge pumps and alarms,

Installing underwater LED lights that activate automatically in emergencies, and

Complying with other Coast Guard boating safety requirements.

These basic safety requirements will help save lives and prevent future tragedies.

I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting today's bill to make commonsense corrections to the persistent safety problems facing duck boats. If we act today, we can help ensure that no other family has to suffer the kind of tragedy faced by my constituents on Table Rock Lake. I urge the House to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today in support of H.R. 6865, the Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022. The bill represents this Congress' commitment to the men and women serving in the Coast Guard and lays the groundwork for maintaining the Service's mission capability in the future.

It also honors our colleague Don Young, who passed away last week, and is lying in state in Statuary Hall today. Our thoughts go out to his family and staff.

The dean of the House, the Congressman for all Alaska, the former chairman of both the Committee on Natural Resources and Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the longest serving Republican Member of the House, the former mayor of Fort Yukon: His titles were many, but they failed to fully capture Don's character and endless enthusiasm for the job he loved, representing the people of Alaska in Congress. He did that job for 49 years, and he did it well. His legislative record is as amazing as his personal legacy of the friendships he made over the last five decades. He was always a stalwart Representative for Alaska and will have a lasting legacy.

It is appropriate that we are naming this Congress' Coast Guard Authorization Act for Don. He served on the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation since it was established in 1995 and on its predecessor subcommittee for 20 years before that. He was the only licensed tugboat captain in Congress, and the Coast Guard plays many vital roles in the always vast and beautiful, but often stormy and dangerous, waters of his home State.

The Coast Guard is one of the six United States Armed Forces, and they

help secure our country's borders. As we watch the Ukraine crisis unfold and recognize the apparent lack of readiness in the Russian military, we should be especially aware of the need to provide our Armed Forces with the resources they need.

This bill includes provisions to strengthen the Coast Guard's ability to keep Russian vessels out of U.S. water, a provision Don Young authored. Both sides of the aisle worked together to craft this legislation, recognizing that port and coastal security, drug interdiction, and maritime safety are important bipartisan issues to our Nation rather than Republican or Democrat issues.

The Coast Guard plays an important and unique role in national security and maritime safety. The Service is a critical component in carrying out drug interdiction efforts, keeping our ports and coasts safe, and conducting icebreaking operations. H.R. 6865 helps the Coast Guard better perform these missions and encourages the use of cutting- edge technology to improve operations, while also addressing ongoing issues like how to bring the Service's crumbling IT infrastructure into the modern era.

Despite the administration's failure to seek appropriate capital funding levels, this bill authorizes over $9 billion for the operations and support account and $3 billion for the procurement, construction, and improvement account for fiscal 2022 and provides a 5 percent increase in FY23. We had hoped that would offset earlier budget shortfalls, but given the rise in inflation, it will be needed just to stay even.

As others have noted, this legislation authorizes the purchase of a twelfth National Security Cutter and six Fast Response Cutters, which are necessary for the Coast Guard's future mission capabilities.

Vital to my district, I am also proud of the commitment made to the Great Lakes in this bill. Working with my colleague, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Gallagher), the bill includes an authorization of a new dedicated icebreaker on the Lakes to keep commerce moving as much of the year as possible.

Thank you to Chair DeFazio, Ranking Member Sam Graves, and Subcommittee Chair Carbajal for working in a bipartisan fashion to give the Coast Guard the resources it needs to accomplish its missions. I urge support of this bill.

On a side note, my first year as a freshman, I was chairman of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, and I inadvertently overlooked Don Young in the questioning order. That was not a smart thing for a freshman Member to do. I realized my mistake, and I apologized to him, and we became the best of friends. He also invited all of us to go to his king salmon barbecue here in D.C. I am really going to miss Don Young. He was really an American patriot.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my support for H.R. 6865, this year's Coast Guard Authorization Act, which is named in honor of our departed colleague, Mr. Don Young, who tirelessly advocated for the Coast Guard and maritime issues in his many decades of public service.

With his legacy in mind, I wish to express my thanks for the leadership of Chairman DeFazio, Ranking Member Sam Graves, and Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Gibbs that created this bipartisan agreement.

H.R. 6865 will renew and enhance support for the critical missions of the United States Coast Guard. Every day Coasties work to protect our national security and enforce the laws in the maritime environment.

They maintain our Nation's waterways for the sake of commerce, save lives, and protect the oceans from pollution. These brave servicemembers have time and time again demonstrated their resourcefulness, but they need our support today.

The increased authorizations in today's bill signals our confidence in the excellence of the Coast Guard and starts down the road to providing the resources Coasties need to successfully complete their missions.

H.R. 6865 also tackles current challenges to our Nation's supply chain which have recently caused frustration in not only the transportation industry, but in the average families who are being confronted with shortages and increasing costs for basic household goods.

H.R. 6865 reauthorizes the Federal Maritime Commission, the entity in charge of promoting fairness and competition in ocean shipping.

And it includes the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 which would provide the Federal Maritime Commission with the authority to directly address international shipping's contribution to the inflation we are experiencing.

As chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, I am proud that this bill also includes my legislation to amend an archaic 171-year-old maritime law that prevented victims and their families from seeking fair recourse against vessel owners who were found to be liable for maritime incidents. This provision was developed in response to the Conception dive boat fire in my district in 2019, which was the largest loss of life in a U.S. marine casualty in decades.

Finally, with this bill, we can make significant strides toward stamping out sexual assault and sexual harassment from the maritime industry. Provisions in H.R. 6865 strengthen transparency surrounding companies' sexual assault and sexual harassment policies, provide protections for mariners, and remove bad actors from the industry. Such criminal behavior and incidents have no place in the maritime industry.

I am proud to have worked with my colleagues on this important legislation, and I look forward to ensuring that it becomes law.