James Oberstar: “Mr. Speaker, I commend our committee chairman, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster), our subcommittee chairman…”

“Mr. Speaker, I commend our committee chairman, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster), our subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Gilchrest), our ranking member on our side, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio), on combining forces to salute the Coast Guard on its 210th anniversary. Our committee, arguably with the Committee on Ways and Means, is the oldest committee in the House of Representatives. We passed the very first legislation in the first Congress in 1789 to establish a lighthouse, the Cape Henry Lighthouse. Concurrently with that action, the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, approached the Congress to establish a service to enforce our tariff laws. The Congress responded with the authorization to construct 10 cutters needed to patrol the coast along the northern States and enforce our revenue laws. They had to be larger than any previously built. They had to be heavier for winter conditions. They had to be faster than anything we had had before, to collect tariffs on imported goods. Ironically, these ships ended up costing as much as $500 more than the $1,000 each appropriated. All of the ships were built, but it is not clear from historical records where Secretary Hamilton found the money to complete the task. With that action, the Revenue Cutter Service was established, the forerunner of what we know today as the U.S. Coast Guard.”