Robert Torricelli: “Mr. Chairman, I want to join the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Studds] in congratulating the majority for rising to…”

“Mr. Chairman, I want to join the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Studds] in congratulating the majority for rising to the support of the Clinton administration, though expressing my regrets that they have chosen this unfortunate moment on such an ill-conceived issue. To make clear, Mr. Chairman, that I represent no Coast Guard stations, indeed, no beach areas, I seek no stations, and indeed, do not think they should be built in my own district of New Jersey, but I rise to the defense of the capabilities of the Coast Guard, because this issue is more than whether or not there is a Coast Guard station in New Jersey or Massachusetts or Oregon. This goes to the central mission of the Federal Government and its responsibility to our people. Because there are things that our Government has done, agencies it maintains, expenditures that it makes which are inappropriate, expenditures which should be eliminated and activities which should be curtailed, there are many who would now come to this floor, and indeed, today they have the Clinton administration with them, to end those activities which are central, things which only the Federal Government can do, things upon which the people of our country depend upon the Federal Government to do. For 200 years people, from mariners to the boating public to fishermen across America, have come to rely for their safety and for rescue at moments of peril upon the Coast Guard.”