John Garamendi: “Just a couple of things. First of all, there is a thing called the National Sealift Fund, which has been in existence…”

“Just a couple of things. First of all, there is a thing called the National Sealift Fund, which has been in existence for a long time, and it has been used to build non-Navy ships. That is exactly what we intend to do here is to use the National Sealift Fund, not the Navy shipbuilding fund. Secondly, you may notice or you may want to know that the U.S. Coast Guard is, in fact, a defense as well as a civilian vessel; it has both obligations. We also need to understand that we are not stealing money from the Navy. This is simply a mechanism in which the Navy acts as a fiscal agent to carry out the task. The Coast Guard is not well suited to build ships of this type. We are looking for the most efficient and effective way to carry out the task, and the use of the National Sealift Fund, together with the U.S. Navy as the fiscal agent, is the best way to accomplish that. I would end by simply saying the U.S. Navy is toothless, useless in the Arctic unless it has an icebreaker. So if you care about the Arctic Ocean and the role of the U.S. Navy in carrying out our national defense functions in the Arctic, then you must help us find a way to build the icebreakers. We will do so without, in any way, taking funds away from the U.S. Navy shipbuilding.…”