Appropriations Subcommittee For Homeland Security News

The United States should strengthen a century-old law designed to protect the domestic shipping industry, rather than relax it under pressure from the energy industry, the chair of the Senate Energy Committee said on Tuesday. The 1920 Jones Act restricts the delivery of goods between U.S. ports to ships made in the United States and flying the country's flags. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, said defending the law is one of her top priorities and cautioned the Obama administration not to relax the statute.

The Obama administration’s failure to budget $1.6 billion for two of the Coast Guard’s flagship vessels is drawing criticism from U.S. lawmakers, who contend that the service’s missions will be threatened. The Department of Homeland Security’s proposal for the fiscal year, beginning October1, requests $683 million to fund only the sixth of eight planned National Security Cutters, made by Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. The agency, which oversees the Coast Guard, didn’t seek funding for the remaining two cutters for fiscal years 2014 to 2017. The 418-foot-long cutters are needed to replace an aging fleet of vessels, many of which are more than 40 years old and expensive to maintain, according to the service.

WASHINGTON — Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Bob Papp testified before the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security on the Coast Guard’s Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Request, Tuesday. Papp is scheduled to appear before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and the Coast Guard on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. and is also scheduled to testify, along with Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Michael Leavitt, before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Marine Transportation at 10 a.m.

WASHINGTON - The Commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Thomas H. Collins, testified on July 21, 2005, before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security regarding the Coast Guard's revised plan to replace its aging fleet of deepwater assets. Collins's written statement follows. "Good morning, Mr. Chairman and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for taking the time to meet again to discuss the Integrated Deepwater System’s revised implementation plan. It is the number one Coast Guard priority and the cornerstone of our maritime capabilities now and in the future. As such, I appreciate very much the continued time and deliberation you have been willing to spend to examine all aspects of the acquisition.

Responding to the inclusion of $400 million for port security grants in the mark-up of the fiscal 2008 Homeland Security Appropriations bill last Friday, American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) President and CEO Kurt Nagle praised the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security and its chairman, Rep. David Price (D-NC), and ranking member, Rep. Hal Rogers (R- KY). "As handlers of most of America's vast international cargo trade, public ports are often our first line of defense against terrorism," said Mr. Nagle. Nagle noted that, while funding for port security has been on the increase in the years following 9/11, this year Congress is making port security a priority.

United States Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced their introduction of the GreenLane Maritime Cargo Security Act. Murray, a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, and Collins, Chairman of the full Senate Homeland Security Committee, co-authored the bill to improve the security of the millions of cargo containers that enter America's ports unchecked each year. Senators Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) are original cosponsors of this legislation. The nation's current cargo security regime was built pre-9/11, with an emphasis on efficiency but not on security. At present, opportunities for terrorists to tamper with cargo exist at every step along the supply chain.

By a vote of 425-2, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the FY 2004 appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security (H.R. 2555).The measure was largely unchanged from that which was approved recently by the Appropriations Committee. The $29.4 billion measure includes $2 billion for Coast Guard homeland security missions, $2.611 billion for traditional Coast Guard missions, $530 million for the Deepwater acquisition project, $100 for port security grants, $129 million for cargo inspection technology, $61.7 million for the Container Security Initiative (CSI), and $12.1 million for the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT).