As you move forward reauthorizing the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act (MSA), we ask that you keep the priorities of the Rhode Island fishing industry and our coastal communities in mind.

I join my colleague, Congressman ``GT'' Thompson from Pennsylvania, as cochairs of the bipartisan Career and Technical Education Caucus in commending House appropriators and my colleagues for the increase in Perkins Act funding for career…

On rollcall vote No. 2, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I rise in strong support of the House amendment to H.R. 3304, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. This legislation represents the best path forward for the work that we must…

I am concerned about the programmed shrinking of our attack submarine fleet, as well as the impending retirement of our SSGNs without replacement.

We touched on this already, but the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence does project an unclassified assessment that China will have between 313 and 342 submarines and surface combatants by 2020.

So obviously today's budgetary constraints are familiar to all of us, and some of the hardest decisions that we are going to make will be basically trade-offs between the highly capital-intensive investments in platform modernization.

Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programs serve both as a boon to the domestic defense industry and our relationships with foreign partners.

The United States has enjoyed a significant advantage in C4ISR capabilities, but China has made significant efforts to acquire those same capabilities.

Many of my colleagues have highlighted the challenges of implementing the Affordable Care Act at the Federal level. While these must be addressed, I would like to take a minute to highlight the successes we have seen at the State level in…

If we want to stay competitive in a 21st Century economy, then Congress must reauthorize Perkins at a level that will meet the growing demands for CTE.

reauthorizing the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act is one of my top priorities.

I, too, want to join my colleagues in offering condolences on the passing of the gentleman from Missouri, Ike Skelton. He was a wonderful Member, a mentor, and a dear friend. And let me say how much he will sadly be missed. He is in our…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. In 2010, maritime economic activities supported 2.7 million jobs and $258 billion in GDP. These resources are too important to our economies not to be managed with the best science practices available. I…

On rollcall vote No. 556, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.'' (By unanimous consent, Mr. Cook was allowed to speak out of order.) Moment of Silence in Honor of Sacrifice of Servicemembers of First…

Maintaining and investing in our national water infrastructure is an important responsibility of Congress. Critical to our coastal and inland communities alike, these resources keep our national transportation networks running and our…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, the Flores amendment is, quite frankly, an affront to states' rights. By preventing the Army Corps of Engineers from coordinating ocean and coastal planning with Federal and State partners…

I would like to thank our witnesses for their very informative testimony here today as always.

What are the prospects for harvesting these investments across programs beyond the existing 3-ship buy?

I and many of my colleagues believe that this investment is absolutely key in terms of enabling our Navy in future years--not just through land-attack capability, but also through the flexibility those tubes offer in terms of mission space.

Biological threats must be at or near the top of that list.

Developing bioweapons and using them against our population is something that terrorists could do not just once but again and again and again, and it poses great risk.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And to our witnesses, I appreciate you being here today on this very important topic.

As horrific as a nuclear attack on the country would be, thankfully Mother Nature didn't make it easy to make weapons-grade plutonium or highly enriched uranium.

As I look at the Air-Sea Battle strategy, I don't see a lot that is fundamentally new--in most cases this is activity and thought that has been ongoing for some time.