I do want to conclude with one final question, and that is concerning our amphibious force structure requirements.

On rollcall No. 124, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.'' ____________________

There is nothing worse for a Navy family, then, to say, 'Hey, listen we are planning on a 7-month deployment' and, guess what, it turns to 8 months or 9 months or 10 months.

The Optimized Fleet Response Plan, I think, is critical to make sure that that is followed.

What we, I believe, need to be looking at is, what do we do to mitigate that?

I think that that is the way to do it, and it doesn't interfere with other long-term viability of other shipbuilding programs.

I believe it is vital to moving military goods and hardware.

I think it is extraordinarily important, so definitely an issue we have to talk about.

If the Maritime Security Program's effectiveness is minimized and U.S. flag is reduced, what would be the impact on our military's ability to fully activate, deploy and sustain forces?

To what extent are you looking at the program--not just today in the capability but what the program needs to provide in the future, understanding the challenges that the industry faces both with capacity that is in the ships but also…

I think the Jones Act has a tremendous amount of utility, especially in situations as we face potentially with capacity within our sealift ability.

I think yours is a unique situation and one that we want to make sure that you have the tools necessary to defend your systems as well as understanding where the threats are from your customers and also from the industry that you work with.

We need to have some soul-searching conversations about what--both capacity and capability we need to build for the future.

Do you agree that the 60 Maritime Security Program ships provide USTRANSCOM with assured access to an effective, national defense sealift capability?

We deeply appreciate all of your valuable information you provided for us today to make sure we give the proper direction in this year's NDAA to provide for the resources for the Marine Corps to continue on the path to restore readiness.

We don't do tiered readiness.

I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding and thank him for his leadership. As you have heard, this is just a commonsense bill, and I rise in strong support of S. 1580, the Competitive Services Act. I want to thank my colleague from…

will you commit to taking into consideration the continued broad bipartisan support for offshore energy production in the Atlantic Ocean?

The minority's motion to recommit is an issue about chemicals in drinking water. Chemicals in drinking water is an issue that was addressed in the Toxic Substances Control Act, which was before this House. There were multiple opportunities…

I certainly agree with the gentleman from California that the duck stamp program is a great program. It does a tremendous amount of good. We all know the wetlands that are preserved with that. We all know it is a great opportunity for the…

I thank the gentleman from Virginia, and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

I thank Mr. Newhouse for yielding. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment.

I would reiterate polar bears are not endangered. They are not on the endangered species list. I want to remind folks, too, these 41 trophies were harvested in Canada. Canada has a world-class management program for polar bears. They have…

I would like to reiterate something that Mr. Young said. There is a thousand-dollar importation fee that is assessed on all 41 of those trophies. Those dollars go to polar bear conservation and research. So we are looking to use these…