Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment.

First of all, I just want to salute the amazing effort by Representative Cummings and Representative Thompson over the last 4 or 5 years to really, I think, profoundly change behavior at the Academy's admissions office in terms of forcing them to widen the scope of their search for qualified students all across America. In the incoming class this year, we have students who hail from 48 States. We have 31 percent female cadets starting this year and 21 percent minority.

As both of the gentlemen who are the proponents of this amendment know, that is a stark contrast to the situation that existed a short time ago. And I think, again, it is partly due to their external pressure, but also the fact that the Coast Guard Academy's leadership took the challenge and has really been, I think, actively recruiting all across the country to achieve, again, what I think is a goal that the gentleman from Mississippi has well spoken, that we can draw from a wider pool rather than just the bi-coastal parts of the United States of America.

What I would just say, why I stand today in opposition is just that the incoming class is also a small class. It's 288 cadets. If you sort of just try and do the math in terms of a body of 435 Members of the House, 100 in the Senate, and even with the 25 percent safeguard that Mr. Thompson thoughtfully added to this amendment, I think it really would just be a cumbersome add-on to a process that really, again, is actively engaged.

Admiral Sandra Stotz is the new superintendent at the academy, the first female superintendent of a military academy in American history. And I can just attest to the fact, having met with her on a number of occasions since she just started this past fall, she is focused like a laser beam in terms of making sure that the great work that was started over the last 2 years or so is going to continue.

And Members can be part of that. We can all, again, go out and talk to high schools, put it on our Web sites, have Coast Guard cadets act as interns in our office, do what we can to make sure that this amazing institution that, again, is just producing great leaders for the future of our country, will draw on, again, the great diversity of our Nation, both geographical and socially.

So, again, I support the goal of this amendment. It's just the mechanics that, again, I would just respectfully rise in opposition and, again, pledge that as someone who represents the New London district, will continue to work with the proponents to make sure that the good progress that's been made over the last couple of years or so will continue.

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