Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, last night, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in an overwhelming majority, 376-16, to pass H.R. 7659, the Coast Guard Authorization Act. This critical measure, which Congress approves every 2 years, authorizes Coast Guard procurement programs, such as Coast Guard shipbuilding, which is so necessary in terms of carrying out the Coast Guard's mission both at home and overseas, and also makes prudent adjustments to shoreside infrastructure, including the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, which is located in my district in New London, Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, in 2023, the press discovered that there was an investigation that the Coast Guard internally conducted over a number of years, tracking and identifying an unacceptable and really outrageous amount of sexual harassment and even sexual abuse that was happening on the campus. The report, which the new Commandant, Admiral Fagan, did release publicly, describes a totally unacceptable situation, which this Coast Guard authorization bill does address. Specifically, the bill includes H.R. 5249, the Coast Guard Academy Safe-to- Report Parity Act, which I introduced with a bipartisan coalition, that requires the Coast Guard to prescribe a safe-to-report policy to protect personnel who report incidents of sexual assault or sexual harassment from being punished for minor offenses, which may hinder them reporting acts which they were victims of.…”