On the recordDecember 3, 2020
The NOAA Corps is a very small, underutilized but uniformed service group. It prevents questions with this type of group, with their history that they have, first of all: Why should they exist in the first place? But more significantly, why should they greatly expand and grant unprecedented benefits that this legislation gives to this group? Congress, the administration, and even Vice President Al Gore all slated this NOAA Corps for elimination. In part, it was because the corps' higher expenses because of their military-type benefits, even though they perform no military-type activities. The Government Accounting Office, GAO, determined that the functions of the corps could be less expensively given using civil servants or private collectors. More seriously, the GAO said that the corps itself is a major impediment to more efficiently and effectively accomplishing its missionary statement, which is to collect coastal data, to conduct fishing surveys, and to produce nautical charts. Now, why is this the case? Well, in one part because the corps insists that it must use their own ships, which are failing. They are resistant to ever contracting with qualified contractors like the Army Corps of Engineers does and the Navy does and even the EPA does. Even this bill recognizes that problem. If you go to look at section 501, it mandates that at least two private-sector charting and surveying contracts must be given.…
