Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Ms. GILLEN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4275, the bipartisan Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025, which includes my provision to improve navigation in the East Rockaway Inlet off the South Shore of Long Island and to strengthen maritime drug enforcement in our waters.

Madam Speaker, East Rockaway Inlet is a critical Federal navigation channel, which Long Islanders rely on for both commercial and recreational boating and fishing. While the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for maintenance dredging of the inlet, the Coast Guard maintains the markers and the buoys to aid in navigation and to keep boaters safe.

Unfortunately, I have heard from many of my constituents that due to shoaling, the water is too shallow in many parts of the inlet, and the buoys there are missing or misplaced, making it difficult for boaters and fishermen to safely navigate the channel. Incorrectly placed buoys and markers could cause boats to run aground in the sand, threaten commercial towing through the channel, and undermine safe navigation for all.

My amendment, which is included in section 283 of this bill, would require the Commandant of the Coast Guard to examine this issue and report to Congress with concrete recommendations to address hazards in the East Rockaway Inlet and present a plan to update the aids to navigation there to keep boaters safe.

I am grateful to Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Larsen for including this amendment, and I look forward to working together with the Coast Guard on this important issue.

Madam Speaker, this bill will also strengthen our national security and support the men and women I met at the Coast Guard Station in Jones Beach. This bipartisan bill will ensure that the Coast Guard has the resources that it needs to keep our shores and our communities secure.

I am especially glad that this legislation includes a commonsense, bipartisan bill I cosponsored with my Republican colleague from North Carolina, Representative Addison McDowell, to help the Coast Guard respond to opioid overdoses.

Our brave Coast Guardsmen are the first line of defense against illegal drug trafficking on our waters, and this legislation will ensure that they have the tools that they need to combat opioid overdoses and close loopholes that drug traffickers seek to exploit.

Madam Speaker, in closing, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this important bill.

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