William Tauzin: “as a former chairman of the Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Marine Transportation, I want to admit a prejudice. I…”

“as a former chairman of the Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Marine Transportation, I want to admit a prejudice. I have a huge incredible appreciation and admiration for the work of the young men and women of our United States Coast Guard. I have seen firsthand incredible sacrifices and the extraordinary valor and courage they exercise every day in saving lives and interdicting drugs and opening up seaways and keeping our waterways safe and keeping the traffic that is critical to international trade in and out of our harbors without collisions and damage and oil spills and all the other things, the incredible number of missions that they perform on a daily basis without a whole lot of thanks and without a whole lot of expectation of reward. But it is time we recognize something; that the sons and daughters of American citizens, who serve in the United States Coast Guard and who daily save lives and save us from human suffering with their drug interdiction and who save damage and destruction in our harbors as they keep safety in these critical national commerce areas, that these men and women too often work with outdated and outmoded equipment and that their lives are at risk unnecessarily. It is time we put some real resources into upgrading and updating the equipment, the boats and planes and the equipment they use to carry out these extraordinary missions.”