Sam Farr: “I rise to welcome those from all over the United States who are here this week celebrating National Oceans Week. They…”

“I rise to welcome those from all over the United States who are here this week celebrating National Oceans Week. They are here to celebrate a week that, frankly, we have no national ocean policy about, and that is why I want to speak to you today about the need to have this Congress enact laws that will make the ocean policy like clean air and clean water policy, perhaps addressing some of those problems that other speakers have talked about today. America's waters are managed by 140 different laws that spread across 20 different agencies. I have introduced a bill, Oceans 21, with strong bipartisan support. It is moving through Congress, and I urge my colleagues to join their constituents in helping Congress address this national policy. A New York Times editorial last week told Congress that they must give ocean issues greater priority, in part by reorganizing the way the Federal Government deals with them. America's waters are managed by too many laws and too many different government agencies, and they recommend the adoption of our bill. So join us in thinking about the oceans. If they are not well, neither will be the planet.”