OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Adaptation to Changing Crude Oil Markets

Floor Speech

Date: Oct. 9, 2015
Issues: Military Personnel Government Budget and Spending

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Mr. Chairman, I rise today to support H.R. 702 but, more importantly, to oppose this amendment.

First of all, I would tell the gentleman, this amendment was considered and this provision was considered in the NDAA, and we actually did mark it up.

The second thing is this is vital to the national security of this country to maintain the private sector sealift capacity. Our top military commanders have called MSP a vital element of our military strategic sealift and global response capability, and it is worth noting that 90 percent of all U.S. military cargo moved from Iraq and Afghanistan has been by American-flagged, American-crewed commercial vessels enrolled in the MSP program.

If we were to adopt this amendment, it would basically cost us $13 billion to re-create this. The U.S. Transportation Command has estimated it would cost $52 billion. In other words, Mr. Chairman, it would take us between 42 years and 168 years to recoup our costs.

Let's defeat this amendment and protect the Maritime Security Program.

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