National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. I thank the chairman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, in the legislation today, there is a clause that would cause us to think about what to do in the High Arctic. The Arctic Ocean is melting. There will be a Northwest Passage. We are going to need a new heavy icebreaker to provide the support for the Navy as well as for commercial.

Yesterday during a hearing, we hit upon the notion of creating a special fund similar to what exists for the strategic missile submarines. We would like, therefore, to begin the discussion of a national strategic high-latitude icebreaking fund. That discussion could then merge into a way of funding about $1 billion for a new icebreaker, absolutely essential for the U.S. Navy, absolutely essential for the commerce in the Arctic Ocean as well as for providing us with the ability to compete with Russia. I would like to propose that that be discussed and part of the process as we move the NDAA through the committees and the two Houses.

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