Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 4005 is the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014. It reauthorizes funding for the Coast Guard through fiscal year 2016 at levels that are fiscally sound and will reverse the misguided cuts proposed by this administration. The President proposed to slash the service's acquisition budget by over 20 percent, reduce the number of servicemembers by over 1,300, undermine readiness by cutting programmed hours for aircraft, and jeopardize the success of research and rescue missions by taking fixed-wing aircraft crews off of immediate alert status. {time} 1700 The President's budget request will only worsen the Coast Guard's growing gaps in mission performance, increase acquisition delays, drive up the costs of the new assets, and deny our servicemembers the critical resources needed to perform their duties. H.R. 4005 provides sufficient funding to ensure these cuts do not happen and the service has what it needs to successfully conduct its missions. In 2012--that is the last year we have the numbers for--the Coast Guard responded to over 19,700 search and rescue cases; saved over 3,500 lives; conducted over 20,000 safety, security, and environmental inspections of U.S. and foreign flag commercial vessels, more importantly; and interdicted over 2,900 undocumented migrants and 163 metric tons of illegal drugs. The Coast Guard is our first line of defense in this country. H.R.…”