Political Quotes

“I rise today to request that the House take action to ensure that Military Sealift Command vessels, known as MSC vessels, are repaired in American shipyards. This would ensure that the money we appropriate here today is used to not only 'buy American,' but to 'repair American' as well. You would think that if anything would be repaired in the USA, it would be our naval fleet procured with taxpayer funds. Unfortunately, the Military Sealift Command thwarts the will of Congress by exploiting a loophole in the current law to designate its vessels as having no home port. The MSC then repairs the vessels in foreign ship repair facilities in places such as Singapore and Korea. Such repair work is done without regard to American health, labor and environmental standards. Using foreign ports runs counter to force protection requirements following the October 12, 2000, terrorist attack on the USS Cole.”