National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, this is a very simple amendment. This is about a four-letter word, ``jobs,'' American jobs. This is about jobs for American men and women. We know there is plenty of unemployment. We've heard repeatedly, as the amendments have been put forth on this floor, that the National Defense Authorization Act is about jobs.

Well, we think there ought to be a few more jobs, and we think those jobs ought to be in American ports, at American shipyards, for the men and women that work in the shipyards of America. Whether those shipyards are in Guam or those shipyards are here on the continent, American workers want to go to work, and they can.

With this amendment, my colleagues, with this amendment, American workers in our ports, at American shipyards will have more jobs. There are few enough already. I cannot understand why anybody in this House would vote against a jobs bill, particularly one that doesn't cost us any more money than is already going to be spent.

The question here is, Where will the jobs be? Are the jobs going to be in a foreign port, such as Hong Kong? Are the jobs going to be in Singapore? Are they going to be in Dubai? Or are they going to be in America?

Ladies and gentlemen, my colleagues, we want jobs in America. We want it made in America. We want it repaired in America. And we want Americans to have jobs. That's what this amendment is about.

Is there anyone here that would disagree with that? Is there anyone on this floor that would disagree with the men and women that work in our shipyards having an opportunity to repair American military vessels? Where are you? Which one among you is going to vote against a man or a woman here in the United States repairing an American vessel?

And it's not just the Navy. This is about the merchant marines. This is about those American flagged ships that provide service to our military. Where will they be repaired? In some foreign port? Or are they going to be repaired by Americans in American ports?

This is about American jobs--not millions of jobs, but tens of thousands of jobs.

Those of you that represent those ports where there are ship repair facilities, pay attention to this one. Pay attention to this because these are jobs for your constituents. These are jobs repairing American naval vessels. This is about your job in your district. This is about your job in your district and your work and my work to make sure that we have American jobs repairing American naval vessels.

Now if there's an emergency, that's another matter. That's waived, and that's not included in here.

This is about your job protecting your people in your district, those men and women in your district that are at the ports, that are at the ship repair facilities, that are hungering for the jobs. They want to bring the bread back home. They want to bring food to their table. They want to pay their mortgage. And this bill provides them with an opportunity to continue to work to repair American naval vessels here in American ports, American men and women working to keep our ships on the line, on the seas operating. And for those ships that are American flagships across this world, delivering the supplies to our men and women wherever they happen to be, those ships too will be repaired in American ports.

This is a jobs bill. This is a simple vote for your people in your home districts, whether they will have the opportunity or whether the job will be in a foreign port, with foreign workers repairing American naval vessels.

There's also a small national security issue here. Many of these ships are ships of the line that provide very important services. For example, the USS Samuel Roberts, a guided missile frigate, repaired in Italy. I don't have a problem with the Italians. But I want those Italians to be in America working on the USS Samuel Roberts. The USS Blue Ridge, a command and control ship, $16 million of work, repaired in Japan, when it could have just as easily been done in Guam or Hawaii or another American port.

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