Kay Bailey Hutchison: “for more than 5 years, the Congress and two administrations have worked on a bipartisan basis to develop and enact into…”

“for more than 5 years, the Congress and two administrations have worked on a bipartisan basis to develop and enact into law a critical program to reform Federal support for the U.S. flag maritime industry and to revitalize our merchant marine as an element of our national defense sealift. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine of the Commerce Committee, I am proud to say that this job is nearly complete. On December 6 of last year, the legislation that embodies this program, H.R. 1350, the Maritime Security Act of 1995, passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming support by voice vote, with full leadership support on both sides of the aisle. Here in the Senate, we have held full, open and public hearings in the Commerce Committee with all interested parties having the opportunity to present their views for and against this program. Significantly, all individuals or organizations affiliated or associated with national defense indicated support for this proposal. I think you can see from the bipartisan nature of this bill--my colleague on the other side of the aisle and I, working with Senator Stevens, who is the manager of this bill--that there is agreement on a very important reform that we must produce, and it improves the efficiency of the current program.”