Floor Statements

Offered By: Mr. LoBiondo

Amendment No. 1: Page 18, line 13, strike ``section 569a''

and insert ``section 569a(a) for the sixth national security

cutter and section 569a for the seventh national security

cutter''.

Page 40, before line 7, insert the following:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Commander Rob Warren of the U.S. Coast Guard for his exemplary service over the past two years as the Coast Guard's Liaison to the House of Representatives.

Commander Warren, a 1992 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, has personified public service throughout his operationally distinguished nineteen year career. Having served on three Coast Guard Cutters, including a tour as the Commanding Officer of TYBEE, Commander Warren arrived here in Washington in the summer of 2009, having just completed a successful assignment as the Chief of Response Operations in Sector San Juan, Puerto Rico. He quickly learned to navigate the rocky shoals of Capitol Hill and has become a trusted voice on all things pertaining to both the Coast Guard and the maritime domain. His passion, candor, and intellect are second to none and earned him a coveted seat at the Army War College's Senior Service School, where he will spend the next year studying National Security Strategy and the principles of senior command.

I would like to thank him for his service to both the Congress and the nation and wish him and his family fair winds and following seas in their future endeavors.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the underlying bill and in strong support of the en bloc amendment.

Specifically, I want to speak on the Rogers-LoBiondo amendment, No. 51, that helps repatriate the heroes that were killed in 1804 in the fight against piracy in Tripoli, Libya.

They were led by Commander Richard Somers with the Intrepid when he was attempting to fight the pirates at that point in time. They have unceremoniously been buried in mass graves without the formal military tradition that we have in foreign countries.

This amendment seeks to right a wrong that has been in place for more than 200 years. And Somers Point, New Jersey, a town in my district, is where Commander Richard Somers hailed from. So it's extremely important to all of the United States of America. The American Legion of the United States has endorsed this amendment, and I urge all the Members to strongly support it.

I would like to start out by thanking you, Chairman Rogers and Mr. Ruppersberger, for refocusing the efforts of the Intel Committee on that which is critically important with the authorization and oversight for our intelligence community.

We have incredibly dedicated men and women who are putting their lives on the line every day in a way that almost all of America will never know. These individuals deserve nothing less than the full attention and help from Congress in the authorization and helping them with the programs that are necessary to continue the dramatic successes such that we've seen with Osama bin Laden.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to start by thanking Chairman Mica. I'd like to also thank Mr. Petri and Mr. Costello.

This is a very simple amendment. It allows the FAA to assist in establishing a NextGen Research and Development Center of Excellence. The center would leverage the FAA's existing Centers of Excellence Program, a program that relies on university partnerships to address ongoing FAA research and development challenges.

The NextGen Research and Development Center of Excellence would provide educational, technical, and analytical assistance to the FAA and other agencies involved in the development of NextGen. In essence, it would be a force multiplier.

NextGen is a complete revamping of our National Airspace System from the current radar-based system to a state-of-the-art satellite, or GPS- based, technology. Once fully implemented, NextGen will provide a host of benefits for the more precise tracking of aircraft, fuel savings, and noise reduction. As a result, the entire aviation community would be benefited, as would the Nation.

I believe the Centers of Excellence model could be extremely beneficial to the FAA's NextGen efforts. Centers of Excellence allow the FAA to partner with universities and industry on important aviation research issues. Since 1990, 8 Centers of Excellence have been formed with more than 60 university partners and over 200 industry and government affiliates.

These Centers have fueled innovative research in a variety of areas such as noise and emissions mitigation, airworthiness, and the use of advanced materials.

I believe the FAA would benefit by applying the Centers of Excellence model to the challenges of NextGen. My amendment would give the FAA the authority to move in this direction.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin, the chairman of the subcommittee.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to engage the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Latham, in a colloquy.

As the gentleman knows, I believe the implementation of the next generation of air traffic control is a very necessary and critical step in bringing our aviation system into the 21st century. The Nation's aviation transportation network is currently based on an outdated, outmoded, decades-old, land-based radar system. Our cell phones have better capability than our air traffic control system. The next generation of air traffic control reflects an approach to move forward while making our aviation system much safer, much more efficient, and much more cost-effective by moving it to a satellite-based system that will benefit all Americans.

Once fully implemented, the next generation system will reduce flight delays, saving Americans billions of dollars in lost productivity. Aircraft will be able to operate more efficiently, resulting in less fuel consumption. Congestion at some of our Nation's busiest airports will be significantly reduced, freeing up much needed airspace to accommodate growth in the aviation sector.

And I'm particularly proud that most of the work that is being done to validate the FAA's next generation of air traffic control is being done at the Federal Aviation Administration's Technical Center in my district in New Jersey that will help develop this and implement it.

That is why I rise today, and while I strongly support the House's effort to reduce wasteful government spending, I am also very concerned about programs that could be affected unintendedly, and this measure includes a slight reduction in the FAA's facilities and equipment account, an account which could provide some of the funding for the work associated with NextGen. Can the gentleman assure me that this reduction will not negatively impact the critical work that is taking place on the next generation of air traffic control.

I yield to the gentleman from Iowa.

Thank you, Mr. Latham, for sharing that information and for your commitment to the next generation of air traffic control, and I look forward to continuing to work with you and the committee and this body to see that accomplished.

``Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.''

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

The gentleman from Michigan has adequately described the critical importance of this bill on pipeline safety. We support the bill.

H.R. 6008--the Corporate Liability and Emergency Accident Notification Act--makes three changes to the Federal pipeline safety law.

The bill requires that the Department of Transportation maintain a database on its website of all reportable pipeline incidents and make the database available to the public.

The bill also increases the civil liability caps for violations of pipeline safety laws.

H.R. 6008 also requires that pipeline operators notify the National Response Center not later than 1 hour after the discovery of a release of natural gas or hazardous liquids. Pipeline operators are currently required to notify the NRC not later than 2 hours after the discovery of a leak.

The Federal pipeline safety programs are set to expire in one week. Recent pipeline accidents in San Bruno, California; Romeoville, Illinios; and Marshall, Michigan have brought pipeline safety to the forefront. While this bill addresses some of the issues that should be addressed in a comprehensive pipeline safety reauthorization bill, it does not address all of them.

I hope that Congress considers a comprehensive pipeline safety reauthorization bill that addresses all of the relevant pipeline safety issues in the very near future.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Oberstar has been very passionate on this issue, along with a number of other issues. The critical importance of NTSB has been outlined over and over again. I urge all Members to look very carefully at this.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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

This is a commonsense good government bill which I support.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica).

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

I want to again thank Mr. Oberstar for his diligent work on this, and Mr. Mica. A lot has been said by both Mr. Oberstar and Mr. Mica, but a couple of points need to be reiterated, I believe.

I think the men and women of the Coast Guard are some of the most under-recognized and under-appreciated patriots that we have in our country. For far too many years a message was sent to them as we increased their mission that it was acceptable for them to be expected to do more with less. We send a very clear signal with this legislation that that is not the case.

I am very appreciative of the majority's position in rejecting the President's very misguided direction to cut the Coast Guard with personnel and funding, exactly the wrong message at the wrong time.

We can look to some other things that are in this bill that maybe aren't quite as high profile, but there is a housing provision in this bill that the Master Chief of the Coast Guard, Mr. Bowen, Master Chief Bowen, came and talked about, the horrendous conditions that we are expecting men and women of the Coast Guard to live in, and this helps to correct that.

Another issue that is not at the forefront right now but certainly was a very short time ago, and that was the piracy issue. We are taking steps to allow the captain and crew of U.S. vessels to be able to defend themselves and their cargo. This is a good step in the right direction.

Overall, this bill is very, very much past due, and I am very pleased that we are going to be able to move forward with that. I want to thank Mr. Oberstar, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Mica and all staff on both sides for so much in their doing.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from New York did an excellent job of explaining how important this legislation is. It is a commonsense approach to solving a problem, and I support the bill.

I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady).

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize America's professional truck drivers who serve our nation by delivering the clothes we wear, the food we eat, and the medicine we rely on.

This week, September 19-25, is designated National Truck Driver Appreciation Week and is set aside to honor the 3.4 million professional truck drivers in the United States. One out of every fifteen people across this country is employed in the trucking industry, making it one of our nation's largest employers.

Trucking is an industry that I am personally quite familiar with. Before getting into politics, I spent 26 years working in my family's trucking business. Early on, I acquired a Commercial Driver's License, which I still carry.

Trucking serves as the backbone of our economy, and is responsible for nearly 70 percent of the total U.S. freight tonnage. Over 80 percent of our nation's communities rely solely on the trucking industry for their goods and commodities.

The America's truck drivers are dedicated to keeping our highways safe. They follow stringent safety regulations, attend frequent training programs and educate the motoring public to help them drive safer around tractor-trailers.

America's truck drivers sacrifice precious time from their families, all the while, they deliver for ours. This week we pause to say thank you to them and to their families.

I salute these fine professionals and their families for the dedication they have to America and for delivering life's essentials safely and securely.

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

I urge all Members to support this very important measure. I want to particularly thank Mr. Oberstar, Mr. Mica, and Gene Taylor for their work on this measure. Again, I urge everyone to support the legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 3372. Effective 2 days from now, commercial fishermen, charter boat operators and owners of other commercial vessels less than 79 feet will have to apply for and receive individual permits from the EPA to discharge from their vessels such things as deck wash, bilge water, and the condensation from air conditioning units. Vessels that operate without these permits could be subject to citizen lawsuits and daily fines that exceed $32,000 per violation. To make matters worse, the EPA has informed Congress that they do not have the resources to process the hundreds of thousands of permits that would be required.

This bill simply extends the current moratorium a few more years to ensure the EPA has time to analyze the results of the study they conducted on incidental discharges, review public comments, and develop proper permitting regulations.

Although I am very pleased the House will be sending this bill to the President today, I still look forward to working with Chairman Oberstar on a broader bill to establish a fair and effective regime to regulate incidental discharges, as well as ballast water. As the Chairman knows, the current situation where we have 2 Federal agencies plus 28 different states enforcing 30 different standards on ballast water is crippling our maritime industry. I know the Chairman is committed to working through those issues and I hope we will have a bill on the floor soon.

Finally, I want to thank Chairman Oberstar for his leadership in moving this bill forward today, as well as Ranking Member Mica for his strong support and assistance. I also want to thank Senators Murkowski and Boxer for their tremendous efforts. Finally, I want to thank the staff on both sides for their outstanding work.

I yield back the balance of my time.