Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak in support of H.R. 4275, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025.

This bipartisan legislation reauthorizes funding for the U.S. Coast Guard through 2029, updates and restructures Coast Guard programs and policies, and supports the commercial maritime industry. It is the result of good faith, bipartisan negotiations between Chair Graves and Chair Ezell, myself, and Ranking Member Carbajal, and it includes important contributions from members on and off the committee.

This bill is the latest example of bipartisanship on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and I am very proud to support it.

Coast Guard operational readiness is at risk due to years of underfunding. A lack of investment has led to a $3 billion shoreside infrastructure backlog, a lack of icebreaking capacity in the Arctic and Great Lakes, and reduced capacity across several essential missions, such as mariner safety and mariner credentialing.

The committee recognized this need, and H.R. 4275 begins to address the shortfall by authorizing the Coast Guard far beyond the administration's request. It increases Coast Guard funding levels to $21 billion by 2029, ensuring that the Coast Guard remains ``always ready''; ``semper paratus.''

These funding levels will give the Coast Guard the resources needed to execute its missions and deliver a basic standard of living for its servicemembers.

In addition, the bill increases procurement, construction, and improvements funding by 100 percent over current funding levels. These new resources should enable the Coast Guard to maintain its ongoing recapitalization programs, including Polar Security Cutters and Offshore Patrol Cutters.

Last Congress, we enacted substantial improvements to safety for mariners and passengers aboard vessels. This legislation builds upon that work by addressing additional safety risks on vessels and increasing the penalties for bad actors.

This bill fights oil spill pollution by bolstering vessel response plans and ensuring timely, robust firefighting responses when vessel incidents do occur.

It also requires the Coast Guard to evaluate international oil spill coordination and ensures robust protections and response capacity in environmentally sensitive locations like the Puget Sound. Maritime commerce cannot come at the expense of the environment.

This bill includes provisions that begin addressing the mariner shortage by updating mariner requirements, updating the merchant mariner credentialing exam, and expanding the pool of eligible mariners.

Finally and importantly, the bill includes numerous provisions to address sexual assault and sexual harassment within the Coast Guard. These new requirements, directives, and oversight were developed because the Coast Guard deliberately hid Operation Fouled Anchor and decades of sexual misconduct within the Coast Guard.

Former Commandant Admiral Fagan worked hard to repair that lost confidence that resulted from Operation Fouled Anchor, and this legislation builds on her work.

Again, I thank Chair Graves, Chair Ezell, Ranking Member Carbajal and others for their cooperation in crafting this critical legislation. I look forward to our continued collaboration as this legislation moves forward, and I urge all Members to support this bill.

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