Don Young: “I echo the words of Mr. LoBiondo. This Coast Guard that serves this great Nation of ours has done such an outstanding…”

“I echo the words of Mr. LoBiondo. This Coast Guard that serves this great Nation of ours has done such an outstanding job over the years in my 34 years in Congress that I can only just applaud each time I see a Coast Guard vessel or a member of the Coast Guard or the flag that they carry. It is a unique privilege, being in a State that has probably the greatest challenge of all the States and probably the most involved with the Coast Guard. When I first arrived in Congress, we had one Coast Guard station, actually two, one in Juneau, which was a command station, and one in Ketchikan, which was relatively small. Since that time, over the last 34 years, we now have, I believe, the largest Coast Guard unit in the United States on Kodiak Island. They do a great job not only patrolling and watching for foreign interference of our fishing fleet, but saving my constituents. Many times they go out in weather, and I don't know how many of you watch the show of the most dangerous fishing, the ``Dangerous Catch,'' they call it, but there you will see the Coast Guard involved rescuing people in hundred mile winds, or knots, of seas of about 40 feet, 50 feet, sometimes. Even so bad that it took a helicopter down last year when they were trying to rescue people off a foreign ship that was carrying soybeans. But they do not only that, but they watch for oil spills which pollute our seas.…”