Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to talk about the broader issue here. I appreciate the willingness of my colleague from Delaware to work on this important issue. The Coast Guard reauthorization bill passed out of the commerce committee unanimously in April. We talk a lot about national security here on the Senate floor. We talk about our men and women in uniform and how they are protecting us. But I have always liked to mention the men and women in the Coast Guard. Prior to 9/11, you can make a very strong argument that the Coast Guard was probably the only uniformed service whose members were risking their lives for Americans day in and day out every single day. I think a lot of their heroism goes unnoticed. Trust me, in Alaska we see it daily. The Coast Guard admirably performs a variety of missions on a daily basis throughout our great Nation with a team of fewer than 90,000 members comprised of Active-Duty, Reserve, civilian, and Volunteer forces and an annual budget of less than $10 billion, with, let's face it, a fleet of aging vessels and aircraft. The ranking member of the commerce committee, Senator Nelson from Florida, and I talk a lot about how heroic these men and women are and how they deserve our attention, just like other members of the military. Last year the Coast Guard executed more than 17,500 search and rescue missions--these are incredibly dangerous, by the way--in rough waters off the coast of Alaska and Florida and Delaware and saved over 3,400 lives.…”