On the recordSeptember 6, 2017
I thank the gentleman from Texas. The gentlewoman brought up some points about a ship, which I didn't name. The Coast Guard hasn't built an icebreaker in almost 50 years. We only have one. There is only one Jones Act ship in the entire country. It is the Aiviq, but there is only one. All we say here is that it has to got to be an American-made ship. That is what the Jones Act is. If we are going to build an icebreaker with U.S. taxpayer dollars, we are going to use an American-made, and American-crewed, and American- steel ship. Mr. Garamendi, the ranking member on my subcommittee, has voted for amendments like this in the past, and he supports amendments like this going forward. Anything that puts Americans to work, that gives us more than the one icebreaker that works for 6 months out of the year, this is a step in that direction. This is simply for sea trials. This is so that the Coast Guard, because they haven't made an icebreaker in 50 years, they can take one out besides the Healy, which is a medium icebreaker that they operate and ask: Hey, what do we need here? Do we need to expand the bow, expand the stern? How could we make this what we want? That is all we are doing here, and it is $5 million. This is a step in the right direction. Otherwise, we are never going to have an icebreaker. We are not going to be able to compete in the Arctic.…
