OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Act

Date: Sept. 20, 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Animals and Wildlife Environment


NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - September 20, 2006)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thought the chairman was going to speak about Florida when he spoke about the most beautiful place in the country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5450 introduced by Chairman EHLERS, who has done a great deal in bringing this bill forward. I think we all know what this bill does: establishes under law NOAA, within the Department of Commerce, and provides a leadership structure and an organization for NOAA and establishes, obviously, NOAA's mission and functions.

I represent and live, am blessed to live and represent a peninsula, an area that is greatly affected by weather, whether it is in the oceans or whether it is by storms. NOAA, as we all know, includes many important agencies, including the National Weather Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service and also the National Hurricane Center. All of those areas are of great interest to the citizens of the State of Florida, and impact, their work impacts the economy and citizens of Florida.

South Floridians consistently rely on NOAA and on the National Hurricane Center for information, particularly, again, during this time of the year. Year after year the hurricane center has served as a trusted voice during a storm and maintains a continuous watch on the weather around the world. It issues warnings and watches and forecasts and analyzes the weather to make sure that it can stay in front of the technology so that it continuously does a better job in forecasting storms.

Very few agencies around the country can say that their work is indispensable in actually saving lives, and the weather center is one of those.

There are so many oceanic and academic and environmental groups that have expressed support for this legislation. I want to thank the chairman for bringing this bill forward. I want to thank him for his effort. I urge all of my colleagues to support this fine piece of legislation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

http://thomas.loc.gov/

arrow_upward