Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from California for the time, and I also thank him for yielding. Mr. Speaker, at the outset, I would like to commend Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member Rahall for their hard work on the legislation before the House today. H.R. 4005, the Howard Coble Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014, authorizes the United States Coast Guard, a critical component of the Department of Homeland Security, for 2 years. Every day, the men and women of the Coast Guard work to protect our ports and waterways from terrorist attack and other dangers. {time} 1715 It is for that very reason that the Committee on Homeland Security should have considered this legislation. Unfortunately, Chairman McCaul rejected my request that, consistent with precedent the committee established in prior Congresses, he insist on a referral of this measure. Doing so would have ensured that the members of the Committee on Homeland Security could inform the bill's security-related provisions in an open markup setting. As a result of Chairman McCaul's decision to waive the right of the committee to consider this measure, the House has before it a bill that does not fully take into account the statutory mission of the Department of Homeland Security component it authorizes. In fact, it does not have a single provision solely dedicated to port and maritime security.…”