Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the bill (S. 140) to amend the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010 to clarify the use of amounts in the…
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the bill (S. 140) to amend the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010 to clarify the use of amounts in the WMAT Settlement Fund.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on S. 140.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to come to the floor tonight, not only with another Coast Guard reauthorization bill, but it will be the last bill I will pass and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will pass, as my chairmanship expires and I leave Congress here at the end of the year. So it is a proud moment for me.
I am especially proud that S. 140 was named the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018.
This is a product of bicameral and bipartisan efforts. The Coast Guard is an armed service with a very difficult mission: to enforce all Federal laws on, under, and over the high seas in the jurisdiction of the United States.
This bill supports the Coast Guard and its servicemembers by authorizing funding for fiscal year 2018 and 2019.
The legislation includes three bills reported from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee: the Coast Guard Improvement Reform Act of 2017; the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2017; and the Federal Maritime Commission Authorization Act of 2017.
The bill promotes commercial and recreational vessel safety, protects the environment, modernizes Coast Guard administration laws, and provides protection for American business in regard to foreign shipping alliances.
Once again, it authorizes a heavy icebreaker to be purchased by the Coast Guard. We just hope the appropriators find the funding to do that for a much-needed icebreaker.
The bill is named for our colleague, Frank LoBiondo, who previously served as chairman and ranking member of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee during five different Congresses. His leadership on the subcommittee translated into many legislative victories for the Coast Guard and their hardworking Coast Guard members. So it is absolutely fitting to name this after Frank LoBiondo.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Reauthorization Act by voting ``yes'' on S. 140, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mast), who is the chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee.
Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo), who is the current chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation, the former chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, and the namesake of this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter), who is the former chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation and an advocate for the Coast Guard.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot).
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support S. 140, the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018. It is a good bipartisan bill. I urge all my colleagues to vote for it.
Finally, I would like to thank the staff on both sides of the aisle. On our side, especially, I thank the Coast Guard Subcommittee staff and John Rayfield, who heads up that staff, for his tremendous work. He just informed me that, under the subcommittee's jurisdiction, we will have authorized every single program under that committee's jurisdiction. Great work by John and his team on the subcommittee.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the names of the staff on the committee.
From Chairman Shuster's Staff:
John Rayfield
Bonnie Bruce
Lt. Commander Luke Peterson
Kevin Reig
Maggie Chan
Kathy Loden
Brittany Smith
Hannah Matesic
Fred Miller
Geoff Gosselin
Chris Vieson
From Ranking Member DeFazio's Staff:
Dave Jansen
Kathy Dedrick
Alex Burkett
From the Office of Legislative Counsel:
Hank Savage
Tom Dillon
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to thank all my members for the great support they have given me on both sides of the aisle to move a lot of bipartisan legislation. I want to thank them for that. I thank my subcommittee chairmen for their leadership in working with me.
Finally, I thank my counterpart, the leader of the Democrats on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, sometimes being a worthy foe, most of the time being a dependable and able ally. I thank him for all his work. I also thank him for the very, very thoughtful small going away gift that he gave me. I appreciate that greatly. Again, I finally thank him for all his effort and work.
I have no say in who is going to be the next chairman of the committee, but I can tell you that nobody is more able and knowledgeable about the transportation and infrastructure world than Peter DeFazio. I wish him the best and look forward to seeing him down the road.
Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of S. 140, and I yield back the balance of my time.
