Political Quotes

“as the House prepares to take up H.R. 2830, the Coast Guard Authorization Act, I call attention to Coast Guard policy affecting repairs of its vessels. There is a loophole in current law that I seek to close with an amendment that will come to the floor tomorrow. The law does not recognize Guam as a U.S. port for the purposes of repairs, overhaul and maintenance of Coast Guard vessels. My amendment would correct this loophole and would not allow the Coast Guard to seek repairs of vessels home ported in Guam at foreign shipyards. This amendment is needed to protect vital American jobs. Outsourcing repair, overhaul and maintenance of national security vessels is a dangerous proposition. The case in point, the Coast Guard wants to take the cutter Sequoia, home ported in Guam, and one of its newest in the fleet, to have its first major repairs done at a foreign shipyard by foreign workers. This move jeopardizes American jobs and critical ship repair capability on Guam. It is in our national security interest to maintain a viable ship repair capability on Guam. The Coast Guard's actions are contrary to our national security. And this is even more serious because we have U.S. shipyard workers who are being laid off while the Sequoia leaves Guam.”