Political Quotes

“Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and Mr. Ranking Member. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the underlying bill which reauthorizes important programs to keep our waterways safe and navigable, protect our marine economy, defend our maritime borders, and support the brave Coast Guard personnel, including the personnel of the U.S. Coast Guard sector Columbia River, which is headquartered in Oregon's First Congressional District. They all work in pursuit of these vital missions. I also thank the chairman and ranking member of the Coast Guard Subcommittee for their work on this, as well as the chair and ranking member of the full Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. In addition to supporting the basic mission of the Coast Guard, this legislation includes language to reauthorize another important mission carried out by our Federal Government that is worthy of this body's support, NOAA's marine debris program. In June of this year, coastal residents in my home State of Oregon found a 66-foot dock resting on a beach near the town of Newport, Oregon. The dock was just one piece of many that scientists have estimated to be a debris field with as much as 1.5 million tons of debris that were washed into the ocean by the tsunami that struck Japan in March of 2011.…”