Justin Amash: “My amendment removes a new section of the bill added by the Committee on Rules that increases funding for the Maritime…”

“My amendment removes a new section of the bill added by the Committee on Rules that increases funding for the Maritime Security Program by $500 million. My amendment does not eliminate the program. It simply keeps it at its current authorization level. Just last week the House passed the conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act. This defense policy bill, negotiated at length between House and Senate conferees, increases the annual subsidy for Maritime Security Program participants from $3.1 million per vessel to $3.5 million per vessel, a 12.9 percent increase. The provision, added quietly by the Committee on Rules, circumvents regular order and increases funding even more. As amended, H.R. 702 boosts per-vessel payments to $5 million per year, increasing the subsidy by a whopping 42 percent. The proper place for a discussion on funding for the Maritime Security Program is in a defense bill like the NDAA, not as part of a bill that lifts a ban on crude oil exports. This spending increase is all the more reckless, given our more than $18 trillion national debt. According to the Congressional Budget Office, lifting the export ban will increase receipts from Federal oil and gas leases by $1.4 billion over the next 10 years. We should use those receipts to reduce the deficit. Mr. Chairman, there are two ways we should amend bills. The first way is to go through the normal committee process, by introducing amendments during a markup.…”