Amending the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018.

This bill provides critical policy guidance to the Coast Guard as it protects our Nation's shores and maritime interests. The bill increases authorized funding levels, requires a review of our Arctic strategy and the Coast Guard's ability to achieve it, and provides authority to procure three new National Security Cutters.

The bill also includes a provision to ensure that public safety answering points that respond to 911 calls from vehicles in distress are trained to relay that information to the Coast Guard or tow companies.

Sector Long Island Sound has been working with municipality dispatch centers in Connecticut and New York to implement a training program to route these calls. I want to thank Mystic towboat Captain Jeff Dziedzic for bringing this issue to my attention and Congresswoman Esty for working with my office last year to include this language in the bill.

Mr. Speaker, eastern Connecticut is the proud home of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and Coast Guard Station New London. Therefore, I am particularly excited that this bill includes a provision that will help boost construction of the future National Coast Guard Museum to be built along the Thames River in New London. In particular, it authorizes engineering and design work to be performed by the Coast Guard in this project.

The Coast Guard is the only military service without its own museum. Under the leadership of Jim Coleman, Richard Grahn, Admiral Papp, Captain Wes Pulver, and many others, this project is well on its way to becoming a world-class destination to showcase the rich heritage of the Coast Guard, which dates back to 1790 when Alexander Hamilton created America's ``first fleet,'' which, by the way, was organized before the U.S. Navy.

I would like to thank the chairman, Mr. Shuster, and Mr. LoBiondo, as they depart. Again, they are great role models of bipartisan leadership and about getting results. I want to also thank the ranking member, Mr. DeFazio, and also the subcommittee ranking member, John Garamendi, for their hard work. I also thank Dave Jansen and John Rayfield for helping guide this bill to a successful conclusion.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this bill.

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