Aren't they amazing?

Our subcommittee is interested in helping you build the Coast Guard we need for the country.

the bill you refer to as statutory is the National Flood Insurance Program, which has not been authorized for quite a while over this issue and other issues.

It is going to be hard for us to hire people at hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Thank you very much, Madam Secretary.

I think that makes a lot of sense.

I am going to help you fix that, and I am going to put language in my bill to make sure that when you sell surplus property, you get to keep the proceeds to invest back into your housing.

I think the American people will continue to be surprised that the United States of America does not have a capital budget.

Because our job will not have been done well.

Secretary Napolitano, you lead a Department of 230,000 men and women who are on the front lines every day protecting our citizens.

The challenge for leaders in this town is we are consumed by people whose vision only goes from year-to-year.

We might need to think about that because this budget is running into very significant barriers when it comes to the Coast Guard.

Please look at those U.S. vessels first, and only if you have to, please, use those foreign vessels.

We need that bill, and we need an approach that requires the core critical infrastructure of this country to unanimously reach at least a base level of security.

I believe the top line given to the Coast Guard in the President's budget is just not adequate.

What I want to make sure is that whatever we do, we are really recognizing the importance of local government in charge of disasters.

The Coast Guard, as you know, I have said to you many times, both in private and public, will forever be in my heart and the hearts of the constituents that I represent in Louisiana and that I try to represent along the gulf coast.

We have already made it clear that the need is there. The budget, as we have been budgeting, is not going to meet that need.

I have gone on record saying that I think the Coast Guard needs closer to $2 billion per year to recapitalize, do proper recapitalization.

Thank you, and we will reconvene in a couple of weeks on another subject.

we included $77 million above the request for the Coast Guard.

We need some more funding in our society, in our budget, and that is where the problem is.

I have great sympathy for Alaska, and I am going to work with Senator Murkowski to think about some exemptions for Alaska that I am going to try to encourage my colleagues to accept.

Clearly, major refineries, major pipelines, utilities.

I was there in April with others to commission the first fast response cutter, the Bernard C. Webber.