Political Quotes

“I wish to say a word or two about the Coast Guard bill, which is coming up soon. I assure my colleagues that when the leader comes to the Chamber to make leadership remarks, I will certainly defer to him. I cannot tell you how pleased I am that we are finally getting to the point of passing a Coast Guard Reauthorization Act. We have worked on this for some time--intensely, actually, for 3 years--and I wish to commend Senator Sullivan of Alaska and Senator Thune, the chairman of the Commerce Committee, for doing such great work on this. The Coast Guard reauthorization bill will allow us to let the Coast Guard continue to do all of the vital things they do to help the people of this Nation. It will allow us to rebuild the fleet, strengthen facilities on shore, and refurbish the aircraft of the Coast Guard, all while ensuring support for the highly trained 40,000 Active-Duty members of the Coast Guard and some 46,000 people who serve in either the Reserve, civilian, or auxiliary force of the Coast Guard. A lot of Americans really don't have a complete understanding of the 11 statutory functions of the U.S. Coast Guard. I will not go through all of those, except to say that these are vital to the safety and security of the United States.…”